


My Bounty

by typoking1107



Series: Boba and Ado [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Culture, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Armor Kink, Boba may or may not have an oral fixation, Bondage, Coming Untouched, Dom/sub, Dysfunctional Relationships, Eventual Romance, Fluff, Gags, Humor, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Misandry, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Oral Sex, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn With Plot, Post-ANH to Post-ROTJ, Rough Sex, Tsundere Boba Fett, at first, bottom!Boba, ish, later on, so much bottom!Boba, top!Boba
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2018-09-19 03:32:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 67,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9416222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/typoking1107/pseuds/typoking1107
Summary: Nar Shaddaa: you would never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Crime, corruption, poverty, it was the perfect place for any lowlife to make an “honest” living. It wasalsothe perfect place for any would-be vigilantes to get their start. If you could handle yourself in a fight and had a strong moral code, you could protect a few of the poor souls who suffered from the various gangs and thugs that plagued Nar Shaddaa’s streets, maybe even make a neighborhood safe to live in. So long as you were smart and stayed out of the way of the big fish, you could have a very long and successful career.Ado Janic, aka: "Night Edge" was clearly not very smart, otherwise he wouldn't have to pay a percent of his bounty to the infamous Boba Fett every month just to keep the hunter from trying to collect. Still... there weresomeperks...Namely the sex.





	1. An Odd Arrangement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally there was going to be a story before this one, but because I was having trouble writing it to my satisfaction, and this was always intended to be the main story anyways, I decided to skip to "My Bounty". As such, be warned that there are references to prior events you haven't seen. Hopefully I will be able to explain it all over the next few chapters that you guys won't feel completely lost.

Nar Shaddaa: you would never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy… unless you looked up and saw Nal Hutta in the sky. Crime, corruption, poverty, it was the perfect place for any lowlife to make an “honest” living. It was _also_ the perfect place for any would-be vigilantes to get their start. If you could handle yourself in a fight and had a strong moral code, you could protect a few of the poor souls who suffered from the various gangs and thugs that plagued Nar Shaddaa’s streets, maybe even make a neighborhood safe to live in. So long as you were smart and stayed out of the way of the big fish, you could have a very long and successful career.

One such vigilante, named Ado Janic and dubbed “Night Edge” by the masses, was currently returning to one of his many safehouses. The indiscreet door in one of Nar Shaddaa’s many winding back alleys opened upon interfacing with his armor and reading his biometrics, allowing Ado entry. The pale overhead lights flickered to life as he stepped through the threshold and the door slid shut behind him with nary a sound. The safehouse was nothing special to look at: a small room with barely enough space for the cot shoved into a corner and the small table and chair pushed against the opposite wall, right next to the open door that led into the small closet of a bathroom he’d installed.

Ado didn’t even bother to remove his armor as he dropped himself into the chair with a sigh, the old furniture creaking in protest under the sudden weight. The past few months had been surprisingly tiresome despite the low level of criminal activity. The main district under his protection, Vapor Town, had seen something of a revitalization ever since the incident with that madman Traven was resolved. The incomplete Water Treatment Plant project had been taken up by another construction company and was swiftly nearing completion. Pretty soon, the modified moisture vaporators that had given the district its name would be obsolete. In addition, the remaining rakghouls that had plagued the district for weeks thanks to Traven’s lunacy were finally eradicated thanks in no small part to Ado’s efforts. With the numerous gangs that had once harassed the district’s denizens driven out long ago by the vigilante, the founding of a militia to uphold some semblance of law, and the beginnings of a local government forming, Night Edge was left with a sensation he hadn’t felt in years.

Boredom.

Not that he wasn’t _happy_ that he’d managed to succeed in his goal of turning Vapor Town into a somewhat nice place to live. Hell, he was damn proud of both his work and the people of Vapor Town for finally standing up for themselves after years of getting crushed beneath the boots of ruthless criminals. That sense of accomplishment, that he’d actually been able to make the lives of some people _better_ , was undoubtedly still there, but it was tainted by the knowledge that, like the moisture vaporators, very soon he would become obsolete.

Logically, he knew that he’d soon have to move on and let the people of Vapor Town stand on their own two (in some cases more) feet, but he was still reluctant to do so. The idea of starting over again someplace else didn’t hold the same level of appeal to him as it once did. Years of facing the grim reality of Nar Shaddaa had forced him to accept that his naïve original goal of turning Nar Shaddaa into a better place one district at a time was simply impossible to accomplish. One district cleaning itself up might escape the notice of the Hutts, but those fat worms wouldn’t take kindly to seeing a large portion of their territory becoming more independent. Night Edge was but one man (albeit an incredibly dangerous one) and even he couldn’t stand up to the awesome might of the Hutt Cartels.

At that moment, the com in Ado’s helmet beeped, drawing him out of his thoughts and alerting him to a new message that had just come in. Opening the message, Ado felt a smile twitch at the corners of his mouth. He’d been in need of a distraction, and it looked like he got one.

…

Boba Fett, the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy (arguably, but anybody stupid enough to vocalize that sentiment usually were _convinced_ otherwise) stood in full armor within the spacious bedroom of his Nar Shaddaa penthouse, his finger having just pressed the SEND button on his private terminal. The bounty hunter had arrived moon-side barely an hour ago, the engines of the _Slave I_ were still cooling out on his private landing pad. Boba had just completed a fairly exhilarating hunt for the Empire, and with no other bounties out there that caught his interest, the Mandalorian was in the mood for some leisure time.

Heading back to relax at Jabba’s palace had been ruled out immediately; there was only so much of the temperamental Hutt Boba could stomach, even if he was the bounty hunter’s best client (and Boba really wasn’t in the mood to be hounded about the Solo contract while the smuggler was still hiding out with the Rebels). Coruscant was also out; the Empire had begun cracking down even more on the lowlife after the destruction of the Death Star in an attempt to rout out any Rebel spies, making many of the activities Boba engaged in for fun much more trouble than they were worth. There were various other places that the bounty hunter could have headed to instead, but in the end he’d decided on reliable old Nar Shaddaa. The Smuggler’s Moon had never failed to provide entertainment; it had perhaps the most flourishing nightlife in the entire galaxy and Boba had more contacts here than anywhere else, including contacts that would be more than happy to provide him some entertainment.

One contact in particular had just been sent a summons. Boba straightened up and moved over to the large armor locker placed next to his bed. Detaching his jetpack and placing it in its designated area within the locker, Boba began the process of carefully stripping off his armor piece by piece, ritually placing each segment in its dedicated place within the locker. Once he was finally stripped down to his fatigues, Boba shut the locker and left the bedroom down a short flight of stairs.

The main floor of the penthouse was dominated by a large central lounge, complete with numerous sofas, luxury chairs, a fireplace, and a vidscreen that stretched from floor to ceiling. A decently sized kitchen was attached to the lounge, along with the apartment’s entry hall and the door to the private landing pad, as well as access to the various other rooms of the penthouse that Boba rarely used.

The penthouse had been “gift” from Jabba for a job well done (meaning the Hutt had it just lying around after disposing of its previous owner and decided to give it to Boba instead of paying him fully for a particularly expensive bounty) and had become the bounty hunter’s default base of operation on Nar Shaddaa. Boba didn’t particularly care for the luxury and he rarely found time to use the accommodations, but he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t grown fond of the place. It was nice to have somewhere to relax that was away from the noise of Jabba’s palace.

Boba dropped himself down onto one of the couches and turned on the vidscreen, flipping to some bland history program. His company wouldn’t arrive for at least a few hours, Vapor Town was located towards the edge of the side of Nar Shaddaa that was tidally locked to Nal Hutta, while Boba’s penthouse was facing away from the planet. Even with his air speeder and his knowledge of the secret paths of Nar Shaddaa, Janic would take quite a while to get to the suite, leaving Boba with some time to kill. Sure enough, several hours of boring documentaries later, Boba heard the thump of something heavy landing on the floor out of his line of sight. Turning off the vidscreen, the bounty hunter got up off the sofa and casually turned to find a dark humanoid figure next to an open window, standing up from a crouch.

Ado Janic, aka: “Night Edge” was an intimidating sight with the form-fitting midnight-black armor that encased him from head to toe and the massive retractable blade attached to the side of his right forearm. Janic gave Boba a slight nod of acknowledgement, a slight blue glow emanating from the visor of his full-head helmet. “Fett.”

“Janic.” Boba replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “You know there’s a door right?” He gestured with his head in the direction of the penthouse’s entrance.

Boba could feel the grin beneath the vigilante’s visor as he spread his arms wide. “ _Look_ at me. Going through the front door would be _more_ suspicious than just climbing through your window.”

Boba rolled his eyes “Worried about your reputation?”

“Yours, actually.” Janic placed a hand over his heart “Whatever would the neighbors say?”

Boba felt the corner of his mouth twitch. “The neighbors are too scared of me to say anything. I made sure of it.”

“Of course you did.” Janic strode across the room, closing the distance until only the couch separated them. “So is this a business call, or pleasure?”

“What the fuck do you think?” Boba stated, jerking a thumb towards the stairs leading up to the bedroom.

Janic cocked his head to the side in an unreadable manner but nevertheless sauntered around the couch and towards the steps. “Sir, yes sir.”

“No sass.” Boba said, smacking Janic on the ass as he passed by him, following the vigilante up the stairs a moment later, a hungry fire lit in his belly.

When Boba reached the top of the steps, Janic had his back turned to him, having already detached the blade from his forearm and was placing it carefully down on a nearby desk before beginning the process of removing his armor. Allowing himself a small smirk, Boba quickly began removing his fatigues, dropping them in a messy clump on the floor. They’d been doing this for a few months now, and Boba was familiar enough with the routine to know better than to help the vigilante undress. Once he was bare-ass naked, Boba turned to see that Janic was almost finished stripping off his armor.

Beneath the black plates of his armor, the vigilante wore a skin-tight mesh body glove with a facemask. Boba had once asked why Janic wore the bodysuit beneath his already fairly form-fitting armor, but all he had gotten was a shrug with an unhelpful “reasons”. Not that Boba was really complaining. The fabric clung to the peaks and valleys of the vigilante’s muscles, accentuating the firm curves of his ass and thighs. Janic was a couple inches taller than Boba, and a great deal broader too. It was hard to imagine someone with such a muscular and imposing frame being as infamously stealthy as Night Edge was so supposed to be, but Boba had seen firsthand that the reputation was well-earned.

Janic turned slightly to gaze at Boba through the single slit on the facemask for his strikingly violet eyes, the fabric that covered his mouth tugging slightly from the vigilante’s grin. “Enjoying the show?”

Boba grunted, the air of was slightly cold against his bare olive skin and he was all too eager to warm up. “I’d enjoy it more if you’d _hurry up_.”

The vigilante tsked and turned back away from the bounty hunter, “Where’s you’re charm, Fett?”

With that Janic pulled off the facemask completely, almost lazily tossing it atop the desk where he had neatly piled up his armor and turned back to Boba. Janic’s short, black hair, was tousled and sticking to his head, the fair skin of his handsome face was marred by a slight stubble and two scars running along the left side of his jaw and above his right eyebrow. Janic looked far too weary for his twenty-nine years, but there was a strange vitality glittering within the depths of his violet eyes.

And that insufferable grin was now on full display. “You’ll never seduce me by being so surly!”

Boba snarled, it had been far too long since he’d had any relief, and the fire smoldering in his gut was about ready to burst into an inferno. “How’s this for seduction? If you’re not naked in the next ten seconds, I’m going rip that suit off you!”

Janic wagged his finger at the increasingly impatient bounty hunter “Temper… temper…”

Boba growled “ _Nine…_ ”

Not needing any more warning, Janic quickly undid the zipper of his bodysuit, shucking out of the mesh as fast as he could, leaving him nude, and turned back around to toss it next to his armor. Boba was closing the distance between them the moment the vigilante’s back was turned. Reaching out with his hand, Boba wrapped his fingers around Janic’s neck and roughly pulled the other man against him, his lips finding the vigilante’s shoulder.

Janic chuckled as he tilted his neck to allow Boba’s hungry lips better access “Eager, are we?”

“Shut up.” Boba muttered in between nips at Janic’s shoulder blade.

Thankfully, the vigilante complied, and Boba moved his lips over to Janic’s neck to mouth at his pulse, reaching his other hand around the vigilante to grab at his already hardening cock. In response, Janic reached back behind him and found Boba’s buttocks, pulling him forward to grind the bounty hunter’s shaft against the vigilante’s ass. Boba moaned against Janic’s neck, rubbing his thickening cock against those firm cheeks and giving Janic’s own shaft a few slow pumps in return.

The vigilante grunted and pulled himself free from Boba’s grasp with a slight protest escaping the bounty hunter’s lips at the loss of contact. Boba wasn’t left wanting for long however, as Janic quickly turned around and grabbed Boba by the back of the head, roughly smashing their lips together. Boba moaned as he felt Janic’s tongue invade his own and wrapped his arms back around the vigilante, pulling him flush against his flesh. Their tongues battled for dominance and their bodies ground against one another, heat building between them. Boba felt Janic reach into what little space remained between them to grab hold of both their dicks, rubbing them against one another. The fire in Boba’s belly was starting to rage, banishing all thought of the bedroom’s chilly air. Managing to force their tongues back into Janic’s mouth, Boba grabbed the back of Janic’s head, fingers curling into the vigilante’s hair, and roughly pulled their mouths apart, leaving them both breathing heavily.

Opening his eyes (he hadn’t even realized he’d shut them) Boba gazed at Janic’s face: his eyes had gone black with desire and beads of sweat were starting to form at his temples. “ _Bed_.” Boba growled out “ _Now_!”

Something twinkled in Janic’s eyes “What’s the magic word?”

“ _Fuck you_.”

Janic smirked “Well, if you _insist_.”

Without another word, the vigilante broke off from Boba and quickly made his way over to the large bed in the center of the room. Stalking after him like a predator, Boba made sure to snag a condom from the nightstand. When he turned back to the bed, Janic was spread out on the mattress with that irritating grin still present on his lips, hands behind his head and legs spread with his knees up in invitation. Not wasting any more time, Boba climbed onto the bed, positioning himself between Janic’s legs.

“Are you gonna make me do all the work?” Boba asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Janic’s smirk grew “Pretty much. I’m feel a little lazy today.” Nevertheless the vigilante lifted his hips slightly, allowing Boba better access to his entrance.

Taking the invitation, Boba put the corner of the condom’s wrapper between his teeth to be held there, freeing his hands to reach out, one going to the vigilante’s ass, the other moving up to grab Janic’s cock. With little preamble, Boba plunged his index finger into Janic’s asshole, his other hand slowly pumping up and down the vigilante’s length. Pulling his finger out momentarily, Boba joined his middle finger with the index and swiftly plunged back inside, reaching as deep into the other man as he could, his fingers finding a familiar lump. Releasing Janic’s cock, Boba massaged the lump with the pads of his fingers. The walls of the vigilante clenched around Boba’s digits and Janic released a sharp gasp.

Smirking, and satisfied with the elasticity of Janic’s asshole, Boba withdrew his fingers. Removing the condom wrapper between his teeth, Boba looked up to see that the vigilante’s eyes had fallen shut, his whole body tense in anticipation of what was coming next. Boba’s eyes drifted down to Janic’s rigid cock and noticed with satisfaction that a bead of pre had already formed at its tip. Deciding to prolong the vigilante’s torment just a little longer, Boba leaned forward, sticking out his tongue, and gave the head of Janic’s cock one long slow lick, relishing in the salty taste of the pre.

At the touch of Boba’s tongue, Janic bucked his hips, nearly poking the bounty hunter in the eye with his dick. “Kriff, Fett!” Janic gasped, grabbing onto the headboard of the bed “If you don’t start fucking me soon I’m gonna shove my cock down your fragging throat and pound it until I cum!”

A shiver went up Boba’s spine at the thought of letting the vigilante dominate him like that but he pushed it aside for now. At the moment, the only one who would be shoving their cock anywhere, was _Boba_. Pulling back, the bounty hunter quickly tore open the condom’s packaging and unraveled it over his own aching erection. It was one of those convenient “auto-lubricating” condoms, where the exterior of the condom (marked by a handy “this side out” label) was coated in a film of lubricant that activated on contact with air.

Spreading Janic’s legs a little wider with one hand and lining up his cock with the vigilante’s entrance with the other, Boba looked up at Janic one last time before pushing in. “Ready or not Janic…”

The vigilante, eyes clenched shut, nodded and forced his muscles to relax. Taking that as his cue, Boba started to slowly push himself through the tight ring of muscle. A hiss escaped Janic’s lips, quickly turning into a moan as more and more of Boba’s shaft inched into his asshole. Once he was completely hilted inside of the other man, Boba grabbed onto Janic’s hips, lifting the vigilante up slightly so that the bounty hunter could get a better angle, and started to gently rock back and forth. Whimpering as Boba’s dick found his prostate, the other man hooked his legs around Boba’s waist, pulling the bounty hunter even closer to him. Slowly building tempo, Boba pulled out slightly, aiming for more shallow thrusts while he leaned down, his eyes falling shut as he brought his lips to the vigilante’s chest. Leaving a line of licks and kisses in his wake, Boba moved across the vigilante’s pecs until he found a nipple, and latched onto the little nub the second he did. While continuing his shallow thrusting, Boba lathered licks and nips all over Janic’s nipple. Feeling a hand press against the back of his head and an arm wrap around his back, Boba opened his eyes and glanced up from his suckling on the vigilante’s nipple to see that Janic had released the headboard and had lifted his head to watch the bounty hunter work, that _fucking smirk_ once more on his lips.

“You look like…y-you’re having fun… there Fett.” Janic said between gasps, sweat starting to drip down his brow.

Boba pulled off the nipple with a wet _pop_ and glared at the vigilante “What did I say about sass?”

Janic’s grin grew bigger (he was going to split his face in two at this rate) “To share it loudly and freely?”

Narrowing his eyes, Boba slowed his thrusts to a halt, eliciting a disappointed groan from Janic’s lips. “Do I have to gag you?”

“Well, seeing as I-” Janic tightened the grip of his arms and legs around Boba “-have no intention of letting you go anywhere, that’ll be rather difficult wouldn’t it? I guess you’ll just have to deal with it.”

Boba cocked an eyebrow, then instantly hilted himself inside of the vigilante. Janic’s cry of surprise was swallowed by Boba’s lips as the bounty hunter roughly grabbed the back of the vigilante’s head and shoved his tongue down Janic’s throat as he resumed pounding the other man’s ass in earnest. Before long Janic broke the heated kiss, his head falling back with a moan. Boba’s lips fell to the vigilante’s neck as he let loose, letting the pleasure carry him away. Moans, flesh slapping against flesh, and the creaking of the shaking bed filled the room. The fire in Boba’s gut had become a raging inferno, building… building… until…

Janic let out a loud moan as his whole body convulsed and Boba felt something wet splash against his chest. Already close himself, the spasming walls of Janic’s ass were more than enough to send Boba over the edge. After the throes of orgasm had subsided, Boba carefully extricated himself from Janic’s ass, pulling free of the vigilante’s now considerably weaker grip.

Looking down, he could see the other man’s orgasm had sprayed onto both their chests. Rather than deal with trying to clean dry cum off of himself later, Boba decided to climb off the bed after he had peeled the now wet condom from his softening dick and head towards the bathroom, tossing the used condom away in a waste bin on the way. Grabbing a towel off a shelf, Boba quickly cleaned the already drying semen from his chest. Heading back into the bedroom, Boba was surprised to see that Janic was still resting on the bed, his cock now completely limp.

“Only once tonight?” Boba said with a smirk as he tossed the towel towards the vigilante.

“Shut up, I’m tired.” Janic groaned back, catching the towel and quickly cleaning himself off. Once he was done he flung the towel back at Boba and covered his eyes with an arm. “I’m just gonna crash here, okay?”

Boba, who was in the middle of tossing the dirty towel into the laundry bin placed near the bathroom door, just shrugged “Fine by me.”

When he got no response, Boba turned back to the bed to find Janic already fast asleep, not even having bothered getting under the covers. Slightly taken aback by how quickly he’d fallen asleep, Boba briefly wondered what could possibly make the vigilante so exhausted before dismissing the thought as none of his business. Moving to the other side of the bed, Boba slid beneath the blankets and rest his head on one of the many pillows, leaving a respectable distance between he and Janic, and allowed himself to drift off.

He had no concerns about lowering his defenses around the vigilante like this. Over the past few months he’d grown to… if not trust, at least understand the vigilante enough to know that he had nothing to fear from him. They had managed to form a rapport whilst taken on that madman Traven, Janic had more than earned the bounty hunter’s respect with his combat prowess, and Boba would be lying if he’d said the sex wasn’t damn good too. True, a part of Boba sometimes liked to pretend that it was only out of fear that the bounty hunter would change his mind and collect on Night Edge’s bounty that the vigilante agreed to fuck him, but he knew that Janic was too proud for that. No, the vigilante came to their liaisons of his own free will.

Which made it all the more of a shame that Boba would probably have to kill him anyways. The bounty hunter had fucked many men and women over the years only to have to turn on them when their interests didn’t align, and Janic was just the latest. Undoubtedly at some point Janic would target one of Jabba’s assets on Nar Shaddaa in his crusade to “protect the helpless” and all that nerf shit, even though the bounty hunter had warned him to steer clear of his boss’s operations on Nar Shaddaa, and Boba would have no other choice than to stop him, unless he risk earning the Hutt’s ire. Not even the infamous Boba Fett could take on Jabba the Hutt and live. So the bounty hunter enjoyed their arrangement, however odd it was, while it lasted, and quietly prepared for the day Night Edge would once more be his target. It was like his father had always said:

A bounty hunter doesn’t have any friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was pretty much as vanilla as this story is gonna get in terms of sex. 
> 
> I have a few storylines with these two I'd like to explore, as well as some other characters I'd like to introduce, but that all depends on if this story survives contact with the work load of the next semester (I barely got this done before I went back to school). Here's hoping I manage to finish this.
> 
> This is my second attempt ever at writing smut, so please, any critique is always welcome (it's kind of hard to write for me- no pun intended).


	2. A Morning Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

_They didn’t have long. No doubt the others would get suspicious if they were gone too long. Ado checked both ways before heading off down the side corridor, pulling his companion by the hand behind him. The two teenaged boys were supposed to be having their “free time” in one of the designated areas, but neither one of them was too keen on staying under the watchful eyes of the Aunts._

_“Ado, come on!” The other boy, Iren whined “We’ve passed like a dozen storage closets!” actually it had been only three “Why can’t we just hide in one of them?”_

_Ado grit his teeth. “_ Because _,” he said, turning another corner “That’s what the Aunts_ expect _us to do! They have cameras hidden inside every closet. We’d be caught before we could take our pants off!”_

_“Jot didn’t get caught!” Iren pointed out as they came to a stop in front of a door marked with the words **GENERATOR ROOM 5**. _

_Ado reached into the pocket of his uniform and pulled out the keycard he’d managed to get from Kada that morning. “That’s because…” Ado said, making sure to keep his voice steady “Jot was fucking one of the_ girls _. Now shut up, we’re here.” Swiping the card through the sensor, the lock opened with a click and Ado quickly opened the door, shoving Iren inside._

_There wasn’t much space inside with the generator dominating the room, but that was fine by Ado, he wouldn’t need much space. Ado’s father had been the one to inform him that the generator rooms were unmonitored. With so many hormonal teenagers in constant close proximity to one another, the Aunts had decided it would be prudent to keep the likeliest locations where couples would sneak off to for some fun under surveillance. Most of the boys and girls didn’t have to worry though, it was only people like Ado who got in trouble for pursuing their desires._

_There were only a few places where cameras hadn’t been placed, and all had restricted access to a select few personnel. Luckily for him, Ado had been told by his father that there was and old janitor named Kada who always managed to conveniently “lose” her keycard whenever a couple wanted -or needed- some privacy._

_Once the door had been shut behind him, Ado turned to see Iren staring at the softly rumbling generator with a perplexed look on his face. “Why are we hiding out in here?”_

_Ado couldn’t resist smiling, “Kada says that, thanks to a mix-up, Generator 5 never got a camera installed, and she never filed a report to fix it.” He said as he approached the other boy, sliding a hand around Iren’s waist._

_“And she won’t rat us out?” Iren asked, turning around to face Ado, his violet eyes shimmering with worry in the dim light of the generator room._

_With a grin, Ado reached up a hand to cup Iren’s cheek. “You’re worrying too much.” With that, Ado smashed their lips together in a passionate kiss…_

A sharp jab to Ado’s ribs dragged him kicking and screaming from the pleasant dream. Cracking open his eyes, Ado’s brows furrowed. It took him a moment for his half-asleep mind to work out that he was in the bedroom of Fett’s penthouse, and even longer to piece together why he was naked and lying on his stomach atop the sheets of Fett’s bed. Giving what he could see of the room a quick survey with his eyes, Ado couldn’t find the bounty hunter anywhere.

The vigilante blinked, his sleepy mind confused. _If Fett didn’t wake me then who-_

_Ow!_

As if on cue, Ado felt something jab into his ribs again, making him flinch, followed by a familiar voice growling beneath him “ _Get. Off. Of. Me_!”

Now significantly more awake, Ado realized that he was lying on something else besides the bed, his arms and legs wrapped around it in a vice. Something strong, angry, and desperately squirming to get free of his grip. Looking down, Ado saw that he had, at some point in the night, reached over and pulled a slumbering Fett into his embrace, blankets and all, and then rolled on top of him, pinning the other man beneath his body mass. Now the bounty hunter was struggling in Ado’s grip, hands trapped beneath the blankets and the vigilante’s arms.

Blood rushing to his cheeks, Ado quickly released Fett, backing away from the furious bounty hunter. “S-Sorry! I didn’t mean to- AHH!”

Having misjudged the distance to the edge of the bed, Ado found himself falling off the mattress and hitting the floor hard on his back, legs in the air. Groaning in pain, Ado rolled off his back, getting to his feet to give Fett a sheepish grin. The bounty hunter had managed to untangle his upper half from the blankets and was currently sitting up, glaring daggers at the vigilante.

“Finding myself pulled into a headlock is _not_ my ideal way to wake up in the morning!” he growled.

“Er… sorry about that.” Ado rubbed the back of his head, a small bump already forming where he’d banged it against the floor. “I guess I’m a bit of a cuddler…”

Fett cocked an eyebrow “ _Really_ …?” he drawled “Is ‘cuddle’ is synonymous with ‘strangulation’ on your planet? Because that was _not_ cuddling.”

Ado grimaced “If it makes you feel any better, you jabbing me in the gut with your bony elbow interrupted a very nice dream I was having.”

Fett snorted, his gaze flicking to Ado’s crotch “I noticed.”

The vigilante suddenly realized that his dick was half-erect and that there was a similar bulge forming beneath the blankets that covered Fett’s groin. Ado crossed his arms over his chest and gave the bounty hunter a knowing grin. “So that’s the _real reason_ you woke me up! What, was last night not enough to satisfy you?”

Fett snarled “Says the man who can cum several times in a row. Now get your ass over here and make up for nearly suffocating me in your sleep!”

Ado didn’t need to be told twice. Climbing back onto the bed, he scrambled over to the bounty hunter, mattress squeaking from the sudden weight. Once he was in arms reach, Fett grabbed him by the head and pulled the vigilante over to him, smashing their lips together. Moaning as their tongues tangled together, Ado pulled himself on top of the bounty hunter and straddled his waist, hands stroking the curves of Fett’s biceps. He felt Fett’s hands wander down his back as their tongues tussled, all the way down to firmly grasp Ado’s asscheeks. Smirking against the bounty hunter’s lips, Ado reached back and grabbed Fett’s wrists, pulling them off his ass and slamming them on the bed above the Mando’s head.

Breaking their kiss with a final nip at the bounty hunter’s lower lip, Ado pulled back to gaze at the man pinned beneath him. Fett’s eyes had gone dark with desire, he was breathing heavily, and small beads of sweat had already started to trickle down his skin. “This time, _I‘m_ calling the shots.” Ado said with a grin, punctuating his sentence with a sharp grind of his groin against Fett’s, eliciting a groan from the other man’s lips.

Still breathing heavily, Fett rolled his eyes “Fine, the stuff’s in there.” He said, nodding to the nightstand.

Flashing the other man a cheeky grin, Ado climbed off of Fett, adding “Keep your hands there,” when he released his wrists. The bounty hunter rolled his eyes again but complied. Getting off the bed, Ado pulled open the nightstand. Inside were several pairs of handcuffs, an opened box of condoms, and a roll of white tape. Ado glanced at the clock, it was about an hour before he normally woke up to start his patrols. _Good,_ he thought with a grin, grabbing two sets of handcuffs, the key to unlock them, the tape, and a condom from the drawer. _That means I can take my time._

Turning back to the bed, he saw that Fett had kicked the sheets the rest of the way off his body to land in a crumpled heap at the foot of the bed, exposing his semi-erect cock to the open air. Ado took a moment to admire the other man; eyes gazing over the peaks and valleys of Fett’s muscles, noticing how his skin prickled against the cool apartment air.

“ _Ahem_.”

Ado blinked as he noticed that the bounty hunter was now glaring impatiently at him, clearly all too eager to get things moving. Flashing him an apologetic smile, Ado climbed back onto the bed, moving to straddle the other man’s chest, his hardening cock resting right between the bounty hunter’s pecs. All irritation instantly left Fett’s eyes at the sight of Ado’s cock so close to his face and the bounty hunter hungrily licked his lips. Smirking at the other man’s eagerness, Ado set the tape and condom to the side and leaned forward with one of the sets of handcuffs, cinched one of the metal rings around Fett’s right wrist and secured the other to one of the metal posts that made up the bed’s headboard, locking them in place with the key.

As he was doing this, Ado felt something wet lick across the head of his cock. In an instant, he reached a hand down and grabbed Fett by his hair, roughly pulling him away from the vigilante’s penis. Leaning back up, Ado looked down to see Fett glaring at him, neck straining to reach Ado’s cock but held back by the vigilante’s grip on his head.

“I’m hungry.” Fett stated, defiance flashing in his eyes.

Ado cocked an eyebrow “You’re gonna _stay_ hungry if you don’t behave.”

Grumbling under his breath, Fett reluctantly laid his head back down against the pillows, his eyes still hungrily fixated on Ado’s tantalizingly close dick. Smirking to himself in satisfaction, Ado proceeded to cuff Fett’s left hand to another post, making sure to keep his cock out of reach of Fett’s needy lips. Once he had finished, Ado set the key aside and leaned back, looking down at the captive bounty hunter. Fett’s eyes were still locked onto the vigilante’s penis in a way that reminded him of a hunter stalking his prey and caused a shiver to run down Ado’s spine and straight to his dick with a twitch. Fett’s hands were clenched in their binds and a quick glance behind him told the vigilante that the bounty hunter’s own shaft was already fully erect. It was clear that Fett was all too eager to get on with the show and as much as Ado wanted to oblige him, there was one more thing he had to check first.

“Remember the signals?” Ado asked. Without looking up from the vigilante’s penis, Fett snapped his fingers once in response. Smiling, Ado pat the bounty hunter on the cheek “Good boy.”

That remark caused Fett’s gaze to flick up to meet Ado’s, his eyes narrowing in contempt “Don’t call me bo-OMMPH!”

Ado had taken the opportunity when Fett’s guard was down to shove the head of his cock into the bounty hunter’s mouth, silencing him. Fett’s eyes went wide momentarily before fluttering shut as the bounty hunter gave a happy moan around Ado’s dick and he started to suck. Fett’s tongue licked across Ado’s glands while his lips hungrily wrapped around the shaft, taking the vigilante deeper into his moist maw. Ado lay a hand on the bounty hunter’s head as the other man began bobbing his head over the vigilante’s shaft, smiling at the sight. Fett trapped beneath him, Ado’s cock wedged between his hungry lips: it was the perfect picture.

 _Almost_ perfect.

“Eyes open bounty hunter.” Ado commanded, tightening his grip on the other man’s head, stopping his ministrations. Fett grunted something around his cock, the vibrations sending a chill up Ado’s spine, but nevertheless complied, opening his eyes and lifting his gaze to meet the vigilante’s, his irises dark with lust. Pushing the other man’s head back down against the pillows, Ado said “Keep your eyes on me Fett,” and he began to slowly rock his hips, sliding his cock in and out of Fett’s mouth.

Obediently, the bounty hunter complied, remaining still as the vigilante began to fuck his mouth, going deeper and deeper with each thrust, only occasionally adding in a rebellious lick or suckle. It wasn’t long before Ado’s cock had delved deep enough to trigger Fett’s gag reflex and the bounty hunter choked and sputtered around the vigilante’s dick.

Slowing his hips to a halt, Ado said softly “Breath, Fett.” After a moment, Fett snapped his fingers once, signaling for Ado to continue. Rubbing his hand over the bounty hunter’s hair soothingly, Ado resumed pushing his cock into Fett’s mouth, sliding in all the way to the base of his shaft. Fett whimpered needily and Ado grinned down at the bounty hunter. “You hungry?”

Fett gave an affirmative grunt around Ado’s cock and that was all the vigilante needed. One hand grasped the headboard of the bed while the other held the bounty hunter’s head in place as Ado began rocking his cock in and out of the other man’s mouth in earnest. Fett, for his part, began sucking greedily on Ado’s cock, eyes remaining locked with the vigilante as he pounded his throat. It wasn’t before too long that Ado felt the heat of an incoming climax build in his gut. He pounded away at the bounty hunter’s throat until just before he reached the brink. Then, Ado pulled out until just the head of his cock remained within Fett’s mouth and cried out as he came down the other man’s throat. Fett milked him hungrily, hollowing his cheeks and sucking on Ado’s glands as the vigilante spurt wave after wave of cum onto his tongue, eyes fluttering shut in bliss as he drank Ado’s seed, gulping it down eagerly.

Ado shuddered and released his grip on the bounty hunter’s hair, sagging against the headboard while Fett drained the last of his orgasm from him. He opened his eyes, not quite remembering when he’d closed them. He was about to move off of the bounty hunter when he felt the sucking on his cock resume in earnest. Twitching at the new stimulation to his sensitive member, Ado reached down and quickly pulled Fett’s head off of his cock, eliciting a disappointed whine from the greedy bounty hunter. Pulling back and sliding his cock out of Fett’s reach, Ado glared down at the defiant bounty hunter. Fett wasn’t even trying to act innocent, glaring right back and looking a little too pleased with himself for Ado’s liking. As much as he didn’t like it, the damage had been done: Fett’s ministrations had made Ado hard again.

“ _You_ ,” he said with a frown “Are forgetting who’s in charge here.”

Fett lips briefly twitched in a playful smirk “I’m still hungry.”

Eyes narrowing, Ado reached with his other hand over to the roll of tape he’d set aside earlier, “Well too bad.” he said with a smirk, unfurling the tape “I think you’ve had enough!”

Before Fett could retort, Ado reached down and slapped the tape over Fett’s mouth. Lifting the other man’s head up, Ado proceeded to wrap the tape several times around Fett’s head, securely gagging the disobedient bounty hunter. Once he was done, Ado leaned back and enjoyed the sight beneath him. The tape was wrapped so tightly around his mouth that Fett’s cheeks were squished, his cheekbones standing out prominently against the silver adhesive.

“Mmmph!” Fett grunted into the gag, glaring up at the vigilante in (mostly) mock outrage.

Smirking to himself, Ado began rocking his hips back and forth over Fett’s chest, his cock sliding through the shallow valley of the bounty hunter’s pecs. Deciding to increase the bounty hunter’s torment, Ado reached a hand down to his crotch, wrapping his fingers around his shaft and starting to jack himself off inches in front of Fett’s face. Fett was glaring intently at the cock now barred from his hungry lips. Looking down at the gagged bounty hunter, a wicked grin formed on Ado’s lips. He gave himself a few more teasing jerks for good measure and then climbed off of Fett, snatching the unopened condom on his way.

Positioning himself between Fett’s legs, Ado shot the bounty hunter a knowing grin “How about I feed you my cum another way?”

Fett rolled his eyes and the corny attempt at dirty talk but grunted in affirmation, lifting up his hips to give the vigilante better access to his ass. Flashing Fett a wink, Ado bent down and got to work. A few minutes of uneventful fingering later (he wasn’t all that good at it to be honest) and Ado had loosened Fett’s ass enough that he was satisfied he wouldn’t hurt the bounty hunter. Ado grabbed Fett’s legs and lifted them up until his ankles were hooked over the vigilante’s shoulders. He unwrapped the condom and rolled it onto his dick, taking some of the lubricant that came with it and fingering it into Fett’s ass. Ado then used one hand to guide the tip of his cock to Fett’s hole, pausing just before entering.

Ado turned his gaze up to Fett’s face. The bounty hunter had a bead of sweat dripping down his brow and was glaring impatiently at the vigilante. Ado smiled back “Are you ready?”

“Mmph _MMMPH_!” Fett growled through the gag.

Ado cocked an eyebrow “Sorry, I didn’t catch that. What’d you say?” Fett groaned and rolled his eyes, but snapped his finger once in response. Ado smirked “Atta’ boy.”

The bounty hunter’s muffled grumbling (probably “Don’t call me boy”) was cut off with a moan when the tip of Ado’s dick pushed through the tight ring of his anus. After allowing Fett a moment to adjust, Ado shifted his grip to the other man’s hips and slowly began working his cock deeper into Fett’s ass, burrowing himself all the way to the hilt. After getting the go ahead from another affirmative snap of Fett’s fingers, Ado began to rock his hips back and forth at a slow but steady pace, his gaze fixated on the bounty hunter’s face. Fett moaned through the gag, head tilting back and eyes clenching shut as he allowed Ado to take him away on this pleasure cruise. Sweat dipped down the sides of his face, his chest heaved with every breath, and he groaned with every one of Ado’s thrusts into him, unconsciously rocking his hips back and forth in time with the vigilante’s rhythm.

The sight was too much to resist and, with a grin Ado bent over Fett, folding the other man’s legs against himself as he did so, knowing that the bounty hunter was flexible enough to take it. This new angle allowed Ado’s cock greater access to Fett’s ass as he plunged in an out of his tight entrance and, more importantly, brought Ado’s face level with the bounty hunter’s.

The vigilante smiled at each whimper he managed to milk from the bounty hunter with his thrusts, and leaned forward to give Fett a long, tender kiss over his gagged lips. When he pulled back, however, he saw Fett giving him a questioning glare. Ado winced, suddenly feeling very foolish “Er… sorry, you just looked so cute there.”

If Fett kept rolling his eyes like that they’d probably fall out of his head. Whatever muffled protest the bounty hunter was about to grumble through his gag was swallowed by another moan as Ado decided to change the angle of his thrusts slightly, brushing his cock more firmly up against Fett’s prostate. Deciding to move things along a little faster, Ado leaned back away from Fett’s face, his grip shifting to the bounty hunter’s legs as he increased the tempo of his thrusts, trying to bring them both to completion as quickly as possible. Ado was starting to feel the edges of another orgasm trickle down his spine when he heard the door to Fett’s apartment open downstairs.

“Oi, Fett! Where are you?!”

Ado froze mid-thrust. He recognized that voice: it was one of Fett’s Nar Shaddaa contacts, a feisty blue twi’lek named Dona. What the kriff was she doing here? Apparently Fett had recognized her voice too, because his eyes widened with panic, and Fett snapped his fingers twice. Recognizing the safe-signal, Ado quickly extracted himself from the bounty hunter’s ass and moved to find the key to the handcuffs. It should be lying on the nightstand where he’d left it right…

Here?

Where was it? It should be right here! Did he leave it in the drawer? Ado could of sworn he’d taken it out!

“Fett! I know you’re here!” Dona’s voice was closer to the stairwell, and Fett snapped his fingers twice again, this time with more urgency.

Ado pulled open the drawer where the handcuffs had been stored. Nothing. Frantic, the vigilante got on his hands and knees and searched the floor near the nightstand to see if the key had fallen off. Nothing! He got up and searched the bed. NOTHING!

Ado frantically looked around the room, hissing to himself “Where’s the key? Where’s the key?! I can’t find the key!”

“Yo, Boba!” Dona called out again from downstairs.

Fett had devolved into snapping his fingers continuously and grunting furiously through the gag as he struggled against his bonds. Panicking, the vigilante grabbed a towel from the bin near the bathroom and wrapped it around his naked waist, then grabbed the blanket off the floor and threw it over Fett, hiding him beneath the sheet.

 “I’ll stall her!” Ado whispered to the enraged bounty hunter.

He barely heard Fett grumble something that sounded remotely like “You better!” before he was off to the stairs to stop the advancing twi’lek. He had just reached the top of the stairs when the twi’lek came into view at the bottom of the steps, looking up at him with a curious expression.

Dona wore a set of loose-fitting coveralls held on by more belts than seemed practical and a pair of goggles that lay against her head forehead. Her lekku were resting on her shoulders and tucked into twin pockets on the top of her coveralls designed to keep them out of the way while working, As far as Ado could tell, Dona was fairly average by twi’lek standards- meaning objectively more attractive than half of the women on his homeworld could ever hope to be. Well, when she wasn’t scowling like she was now anyways.

“Janic.” She said curtly. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” Her eyes drifted down the vigilante’s naked chest to the towel around his waist. “Am I… _interrupting_ something?” The corner of her mouth twitched in a knowing smirk.

She was on to them. “Just… taking a shower…” Ado said quickly.

The twi’lek cocked an eyebrow “You’re not very wet.”

Shit. “I… I hadn’t gotten in yet?”

“Mm hm…” Dona hummed “So where’s Fett?”

“He’s um…” Ado trailed off as he suddenly noticed something sliding off of his steadily softening dick and realized with horror that he’d forgotten to take off the condom.

“‘He’s um…’?” Dona leaned against the wall, cocking her hips to the side and eyeing in expectantly.

Ado quickly moved to match her pose, hoping the change in position would stop the condom from sliding off. No such luck. “He’s occupied!”

A steadily growing smirk had taken shape on Dona’s lips “Really? ‘Occupied’?”

“That’s right!” Shit the condom was gonna fall any second!

Dona quirked an eyebrow “Would you say he’s a little… ‘ _tied up_ ’ at the moment?”

“Uh…” At that moment, the condom slipped off his dick and fell to the floor with a wet _plop_ and Ado’s heart stopped…

Dona burst out laughing and straightened herself off the wall, shaking her head as she said between chuckles “All let you and Boba… get _decent_. Just tell him I got something he’ll want to see downstairs.”

Ado let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding as Dona walked off and suddenly felt immensely stupid. _It isn’t like that here_ , he reminded himself. _I don’t need to hide it._

He heard Fett’s muffled grumbling behind him and Ado shook himself from his thoughts. After quickly picking the condom off from the floor and tossing it into a nearby waste bin, Ado returned to the bed and pulled the cover off of the bounty hunter to reveal Fett giving him the most deadpan look he could muster.

“I’ll… I’ll just get you out now.” Ado said sheepishly, blushing from embarrassment. Ado started to resume his search for the key to the cuffs when Fett started gesturing towards the cuff restraining his left hand. Ado leaned forward to inspect it only to slap himself in the forehead a moment later: The key was still inside the lock…

Fett couldn’t unlock it himself as the cuffs were designed specifically to prevent such a thing from happening; you needed two hands to undo it. Ado quickly undid the lock on the left cuff and then moved around the bed to unlock the right. With his hands free, Fett quickly started to unwrap the tape gagging him, Ado helping him once he’d unchained the cuffs from the bed.

Ado winced in sympathy as the tape was pulled off, leaving red welts on Fett’s lips and cheeks and pulling at his short black hair. “We really need to get some proper gear one of these days.” He said, handing the bounty hunter a towel.

Fett shot the vigilante a skeptical look as he stood up to wipe the lube from his ass “By ‘we’ you mean me.”

Ado shrugged “Which one of us is the legendary bounty hunter and which one of us is the small-time vigilante?”

Fett snorted, but Ado could tell that the compliment had worked. “Fine, I’ll think about it.”

Neither one of them said anything else as Fett got dressed in his discarded fatigues. In a small corner of his mind, Ado realized that this was the first time they’d ever talked like whatever was between them was an actual thing and not some spontaneous event chained to the shifting whims of the temperamental bounty hunter.

Once he was dressed, Fett headed downstairs to meet Dona and Ado moved to get himself dressed. He quickly slipped into his bodysuit and then donned his armor and blade with practiced ease. Instinctively, Ado silently slipped out of one of the apartment’s windows and began making his way back to where he’d hidden his speederbike. It was better for his conscious if he didn’t know what sort of illicit deeds Fett was up to the rest of the time.

As he flew through the eternally awake city on his bike back towards his territory, Night Edge mused that his younger self probably would have smacked him upside the head for getting tangled up with someone like Fett. He knew the bounty hunter was using him and would probably kill him if the vigilante unwantedly interfered even remotely in the affairs of the Mando’s many employers, but to his surprise, Ado found himself not caring all that much. The sex was good, and when his time did come, Night Edge would die comforted by the knowledge that he’d managed to make the lives of at least a small group of people on this cruel Smuggler’s Moon somewhat better. Vapor Town wouldn’t need him soon after all. If Fett decided that Night Edge wasn’t worth keeping around, then that’d be just fine. Sure he’d give the bounty hunter a good fight, but Fett was too cunning to be taken out by someone like him. That was a matter for another day, however. For now, Ado would be content with their current arrangement, for however long it lasted.

Still… it wouldn’t hurt if Fett was a little bit nicer to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the seven-month wait. I had difficulty writing the smut for this chapter and my college workload didn't help. Add to that the feeling that nobody was reading this story due to the lack of comments and you have a recipe for procrastination.
> 
> Remember to give me feedback! Positive or negative it is always appreciated!


	3. An Enticing Offer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look! Look! I did an update! And it didn't take 6 months!

“I’m really sorry about this my friend, especially after all you’ve done for us.”

Night Edge stared at the elderly zabrak man who served as Vapor Town’s new mayor, an odd mix of emotions running through his brain. Tilting his helmeted head forward in a subtle nod, the vigilante turned away from the mayor, moving towards the open window he’d entered the office through “No problem. I knew you wouldn’t need me eventually. Take care.”

“Ado,” the sound of his name caused Night Edge to stop momentarily, one foot on the windowsill. Glancing back at mayor, he saw the zabrak looking down at his hands, the datapad that contained the Hutts’ ultimatum still clenched firmly in his fingers. “You will always have a place here. Perhaps not as a protector, but the people of Vapor Town won’t forget what you’ve done for us.”

Ado felt a warm sensation twisting in his gut, but nevertheless gave only a slight nod in response before heading out the window and vanishing into the night. He took the long way back to his main safehouse, stopping at times in the shadows of one of the rickety old structures that made up Vapor Town’s buildings to watch as the citizens carried on with their daily lives, unaware that the silent protector they had counted on for so long was about to slip away forever, no longer needed. It amazed him how different the place was from when he’d first arrived: now there were people actually lingering about and talking to one another, no longer trying to get to their destinations as quickly as possible, hoping to avoid catching the attention of the numerous gangs that had once prowled the streets. Militia guards watched over the citizens of Vapor Town as they went about their business instead of criminal enforcers. Even the buildings themselves, which once seemed to be on the verge of collapse were looking better. The moisture vaporators that dotted the roofs and walkways of the district now merely decorative, relics of a far more desperate time.

Night Edge knew how lucky he’d been. The Hutt who oversaw this part of the city was a lazy bastard, letting the gangs do whatever they wanted so long as they paid their taxes, but had he sent in a full force to end the vigilante’s crusade, Night Edge might very well have succumbed to them. Instead, something of a compromise had been reached between the Hutt and the people of Vapor Town. The now mayor of Vapor Town, someone with good economic sense, had convinced the Hutt that a wealthier district meant more money, and if there was any amount of love to be found in a Hutt’s stone cold heart, it was the love of money. In order to appease the Hutt, however, Night Edge had to disappear. Apparently vigilantes were bad for business.

Ado wasn’t worried about the people of Vapor Town anymore. If there was one thing he’d given them, it was the will to stand up for themselves. He knew that if anyone tried to put them under heel again, they would fight. Still, as he reached the hidden door to his safehouse, Night Edge noted that he was left with one serious question:

What was he going to do now?

…

Boba Fett was in a good mood.

He’d just finished up another lucrative contract for the Empire and was now looking to make up for his last vacation’s sudden end. It’d been over a month since the bounty hunter had last seen Janic and Boba had a little surprise for the vigilante. So here he was, strolling through the streets of Vapor Town in full armor with a bag slung over his shoulder containing a few “goodies”. He’d been accosted by some of the militia guards upon entering the district over his armaments. After getting over his initial shock at how different the district was from the last time he’d been there, Boba had persuaded the guards to let him through without too much of a fuss. No air quotes there, he’d actually used his words instead of his guns! Who says Boba Fett can’t be charming when he wants to be? (A certain blue twi’lek with a tongue too sharp for her own good, that’s who.)

So here he was, heading towards Janic’s main safehouse, hoping to find the vigilante there. He didn’t need to bother asking any of the locals for directions (though he’d be disappointed if they could actually give him any). He’d been there before, after all…

The bounty hunter and the vigilante had first met a few months back, when Boba had taken on a particularly large bounty that had been set on the vigilante by several lowlifes and other criminal elements, in particular one Ventus Traven, egomaniacal CEO of the construction company Uppercity Industries. Night Edge had been sabotaging the construction of a new Water Treatment Plant Uppercity Ind. had been building in the vigilante’s turf. Over the course of his hunt for Night Edge, Boba had learned the truth: Traven, for some mad, vindictive reason, was planning on poisoning the water supply of Vapor Town with a particularly infectious strain of the rakghoul plague from his home planet of Taris using the Treatment Plant. If his plan succeeded, then a significant portion of Nar Shaddaa would become infected before any attempt at a quarantine could be made, the disease might even have spread off-world thanks to the high level of traffic coming to and from the Smuggler’s Moon at all times. For reasons of his own (and no, it was NOT out of the goodness of his heart thank-you-very-much!) Boba decided to team up with the vigilante and bring Traven’s mad scheme to an end.

One dead crazy CEO later, and Boba had found himself in quite the predicament: the bounty on Night Edge still stood, and while the paycheck might have been cut severely without Traven’s money added to it, it was still a substantial amount. However, Boba had seen for himself just how dangerous Janic was, to the point that the bounty hunter doubted he could take the vigilante on in a fair one-on-one fight (though he’d never admit it out loud). Add to that the fact that Janic may-or-may-not have saved Boba’s life by curing him when Boba had contracted the rakghoul plague during his hunt for Night Edge, and the fact that the vigilante had earned a fair bit of Boba’s respect during their takedown of Traven, and the bounty hunter was left with quite the conundrum. In the end, Boba had made Night Edge a (generous) offer: the vigilante would pay Boba a small percent of his bounty every month, stay clear of Jabba’s interests on the moon, as well as agreeing to aid Boba if he ever wanted help with a contract on Nar Shaddaa. In return, Boba Fett would never attempt to claim the bounty on Night Edge’s head.

As for the sex? Well that was just a nice bonus. During a lull in the fight against Traven, Janic had taken the bounty hunter to his main safehouse to clean up and while showering, still running high on the adrenaline from the last fight, they’d fucked. It was an enjoyable experience and Boba had left the option of doing it again open when he’d made his deal with Janic. To his delight, the vigilante accepted, and Boba had a new fuck-buddy available when he was on Nar Shaddaa.

It wasn’t long before Boba arrived at the alcove where the entrance to Night Edge’s safehouse was hidden. He raised a gloved fist up and banged twice on the door. Janic had (wisely) never given Boba the access codes to his safehouses, but that mattered little, Boba had gotten a bypass to the type of lock Janic used from Dona. Boba knew that the concealed cameras Janic had placed on the exterior of the entrance would have already focused on him. If the vigilante wasn’t home then Boba would just use the bypass and wait for him inside, it wouldn’t be the first time.

Thankfully, it looked like the vigilante was in, as a few seconds later the door to the safehouse slid open and Boba casually stepped inside. What met him caught the bounty hunter by surprise, however. Instead of the usual untidy mess he’d come to expect from his previous visits, the safehouse was surprisingly barren. Gone were the nutrient bar wrappers, opened weapon kits, and occasional bit of memorabilia Boba had come to expect from prior visits. Even the open shower space was cleaner than normal. Janic was standing by a small cot placed in the corner of the room, wearing all his armor except for the helmet and facemask of his undersuit. He was currently wrapping the sheets stripped from the cot around what looked like a large, jagged tooth. An open bag was lying on the mattress next to the vigilante’s helmet and facemask, filled with Janic’s possessions.

Boba cocked an eyebrow beneath his visor as the door automatically shut behind him “Going somewhere?”

Janic spared him a quick glance before turning back to wrapping up the tooth “Sorry, Fett, I’m a little busy at the moment. If you want my help with something you’ll have to wait.”

Frowning, Boba set the bag he was carrying down by the door and walked up to stand next to the vigilante. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Janic sighed, setting the partially wrapped tooth on top of the bag. “Vapor Town doesn’t need me anymore. I’m off to find fresh hunting grounds, as it were.”

Boba nodded, he’d figured something like this would happen sooner or later. “So where are you going to go?”

Janic shrugged, finishing wrapping the tooth. “Dunno’ to be honest. I’ll probably be hard to find for a little while.”

Suddenly, an idea popped into Boba’s head. “You can stay at my place.”

Perhaps it was risky, letting someone he’ll probably have to kill sooner or later stay in his apartment, but if the vigilante went wandering Nar Shaddaa unsupervised, there’s no telling who he might cross. This way, Boba could “help” Janic find a new place to engage his silly heroics and, more importantly, make sure he didn’t accidently step on Jabba’s toes- er, _tail_.

A teasing voice that sounded suspiciously like Dona flited into his head _“Are you sure you’re not just_ worried _about him Boba-dearie?”_ it cooed. Boba promptly shot said imaginary voice in the skull and tossed the carcass into an incinerator.

Back in reality and away from his disturbed mental landscape, Boba noticed Janic giving him a surprised look. “I… really?” the vigilante said, mouth agape.

Boba shrugged, “Sure, why not? I could use someone watching the place when I’m not there, so long as you aren’t…” he made a point of looking around the once messy room “… _untidy_.”

Janic’s ears turned red and he rubbed the back of his head “Yeah… uh… yeah I can do that.”

Smirking beneath his helmet, Boba stepped forward and slapped a hand on Janic’s rear “I also enjoy having my _ass_ ets, close by.”

The vigilante rolled his eyes “And you say _my_ lines are bad.”

Ignoring the backtalk, Boba released Janic’s rear walked back to the bag he’d left by the door. “But in exchange…” a teasing tone lit Boba’s voice as he held up the bag and said “You have to do something for _me_ …”

…

Once they had taken Ado’s stuff to Fett’s apartment and stored it away to be unpacked later, the bounty hunter had shoved the bag he’d been carrying this whole time into the vigilante’s arms and gruffly told him to get clean and change into what was inside while Fett handled parking the younger man’s speeder. Now, Ado stared at the bathroom mirror of Fett’s bedroom, admiring his reflection. To be honest, when the vigilante had said they needed some “proper gear”, he hadn't actually expected Fett to buy any, but sure enough, the bounty hunter had purchased a full set of adjustable black leather cuffs and a collar. Ado had stripped himself naked and applied gear to his body; one pair of cuffs was strapped around his biceps, another around his wrists, the third just above his knees, and the final pair wrapped around his ankles. Each cuff had a small chain with a clip on the end attached to it, no doubt meant to be used in conjunction with the metal D-rings adorning the cuffs to restrain the wearer. For the moment, Ado had decided to forego binding himself, figuring that Fett would probably want to do it. The collar sat snugly around his neck, tight, but not restrictive, complete with its own little ring where a leash could be attached.

Ado flexed a little to make sure that everything was comfortable, as well as to admire the tightness of the dark leather against his straining muscles, his cock twitching a little at the sensation of the leather against his skin. Satisfied, Ado turned his attention to the last item in the bag: a padded leather muzzle gag. Designed to fit snugly and comfortably over one’s mouth, the strap was meant to wrap around his head and then get cinched down with the buckle placed on the front of the muzzle. All-in-all, fairly standard, but what made Ado smirk was the placement of a large rubber insert on the interior of the muzzle, shaped like the head of a penis.

_Leave it to Fett to want to have something to suck on when gagged._

Shaking his head in amusement, Ado grabbed the gag but did not put it on just yet. He couldn’t pass up on the chance to tease the bounty hunter. To his disappointment, however, the bounty hunter had yet to return. Shrugging, Ado dropped the gag onto the nightstand and plopped himself down on the bed, stretching out as he waited for Fett to get back.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long, as not ten minutes later the bounty hunter came up the steps, still wearing his full armor. Fett stopped on seeing the vigilante, his helmeted head tilting as he gave Ado a predatory look that sent shivers down the younger man’s spine and straight to his cock. Kriff, he’d forgotten just how intimidating that Mandalorian armor could be. The thought of the bounty hunter bending Ado over and claiming him while wearing it was enough to make his dick twitch in anticipation.

(In the corner of his mind, another fantasy sprung to life. One where Ado took the bounty hunter, pushed him to his knees, and painted the Mando’s helm with his cum, marking Fett as _his_.)

“You look comfortable.” Fett said dryly.

“Well, since I’ll be living here, I figured I might as well make myself at home.” Ado retorted, putting his hands behind his head.

Fett shook his head “You’re not sleeping in my room.”

“Kicking me to the couch already?” Ado teased “And here I was thinking we had something _special_!”

Fett was probably rolling his eyes beneath his visor. To Ado’s disappointment, the bounty hunter moved over to the armor locker and began to remove his gear, starting with the helmet. Upon noticing the vigilante watching him strip, Fett shot him a curious look. “What?”

Ado pursed his lips “I was kinda hoping you were gonna fuck me in your armor.”

Fett’s eyebrows raised “I… why?”

Sitting up, Ado shrugged, “Cause I think it’s sexy. Do I need another reason?”

Fett shrugged, removing his jetpack, “I suppose not,” he said, adding gruffly “but I’m not doing that.”

Ado frowned at the other man’s tone “Why not? Have you done it before?”

The bounty hunter’s face contorted into grimace as he bent over to remove his boots. “Not since the Fuck Planet.”

Ado blinked, caught off guard “The… the _what_?”

Straightening up and stowing his boots into the locker, Fett shot him a sharp glare “I don’t want to talk about it.”

The vigilante cocked an eyebrow “You can’t just mention a ‘Fuck Planet’ and not elaborate!”

The bounty hunter grunted as he continued to strip off his armor “I can, and I did. All I’ll tell you is that I needed to buy new armor after it.”

Ado’s brows furrowed and he crossed his arms “That just makes me want to know even _more_! What were you even doing on this ‘Fuck Planet’?”

Fett sighed, finishing putting away his armor “I was chasing a bounty who ran there. Look up Tindra IV on the holo-net if you want to know more about it.”

Making a mental note to do just that, Ado watched as Fett completely stripped himself of his remaining clothing, noting the numerous scars that crisscrossed his muscular body. Idly, the vigilante wondered what other stories those scars could tell.

Finally, Fett had stripped completely nude, and turned to Ado, eyes lingering on the collar and cuffs the vigilante wore. “Everything fit okay?”

Ado nodded “Yeah, all good, everything’s comfortable.” He said, adding with a wink “Though I’m sure you already knew that.”

Fett crossed his arms over his muscular chest. “I have no idea what you mean. _You’re_ the one who wanted some, ‘proper gear’ remember?”

Ado smirked, “Is that right?” reaching over, he grabbed the gag off of the nightstand and held it up for Fett to see, making a point to ensure the rubber pecker was visible. “Because somehow I get the feeling this thing is more for _you_ than for me, Mr. Oral Fixation.”

Fett narrowed his eyes at the vigilante. “I don’t have an oral fixation.”

Was Fett… _pouting_? _Oh, kriff that’s adorable!_ Ado snickered, “Fett, I have never met someone who loves sucking cock as much as you do.”

The bounty hunter glanced away, a faint blush dusting his olive cheeks. “Still doesn’t mean I have a fixation.” He grumbled defiantly.

Ado rolled his eyes, grin growing broader “Whatever you say, buddy.”

Glaring at the vigilante, Fett climbed onto the bed. “Wrists.” He commanded.

Ado was taken aback by the brusqueness of the command but obliged the bounty hunter, dropping the gag onto the bed and holding out his arms in front of him. Without another word, Fett connected the two chains from the cuffs on his wrists together, then did the same with the cuffs on his biceps, binding Ado’s arms in front of him.

Once he was done the bounty hunter commanded “Roll onto your hands and knees.”

“You’re not exactly handling this whole ‘foreplay’ thing very well, you realize that right?” Ado quipped, trying to lighten the mood a little.

“Shut up and roll over.”

Sighing at the bounty hunter not taking the bait, the vigilante complied, rolling over and doing his best to balance himself with his bound hands while Fett proceeded to bind the cuffs on his legs and ankles together. Once the bounty hunter was done he ran his hands up Ado’s thighs to gently massage his waist. Gulping, all wit gone from his tongue, Ado looked over his shoulder back at Fett. The bounty hunter was gazing hungrily at his ass, hands straying up to grope a buttock each and spread him wide. Looking up to meet Ado’s eyes, a predatory grin flashed across Fett’s face that made the hairs on the back of the vigilante’s neck stand up on end and caused him to turn away to hide the blush on his face. Fett pressed his hips flush against Ado’s ass, grinding his length between the vigilante’s cheeks. Leaning over the taller man beneath him as best he could, Fett reached up a hand to grab Ado’s chin and turn his head back towards him.

Once the vigilante was looking at him once more, Fett asked “Signal?”

Ado gulped “One snap for yes, two for no or stop.”

Fett’s smile held no warmth, only hunger “Good, now _open_.”

At some point, the bounty hunter had grabbed the gag off the mattress and the moment Ado parted his lips, he shoved the rubber pecker into his mouth, wrapping the strap around the vigilante’s head and slipping it through the buckle, locking the muzzle in place and silencing any further comments.

Ado flexed his jaw so that the pecker sat better in his mouth. The rubber of the false phallus was big enough to almost fill his mouth completely, pushing his tongue down against the base of his mouth and nearly reaching far enough back to tickle his throat. The padding of the muzzle was soft but secure against his cheeks.

Fett leaned back, watching the vigilante carefully “Is it comfortable?”

Ado took a deep breath through his nose and nodded grunting out through the muzzle an affirmative “Mm hm.”

Grinning, Fett leaned back, pushing himself away from the vigilante. A moment later, Ado felt the bounty hunter’s fingers probing his anus. “Let’s get things started then.” Fett said as he pushed his fingers through the tight ring of Ado’s ass.

The moment Fett’s fingers brushed over the nerves of Ado’s prostate, a muffled moan escaped the vigilante. Shifting slightly to rest on his forearms, Ado closed his eyes and allowed himself to be swept away in the sensations of Fett massaging his insides with those nimble fingers. After several minutes of simulating his prostate, the bounty hunter had reduced Ado to a twitching mess; it was all he could do just to stay upright.

Another rub of Fett’s fingers sent violent shivers wracking down Ado’s spine. He glanced back over his shoulder at the bounty hunter, “Mmm, mmmh, _mmmph_!” he whimpered through the muzzle, pleading for more.

Fett smirked and rubbed the vigilante’s prostate once more, drawing out another whine. “Want to move things along?”

Ado nodded vigorously, snapping his fingers once and grunting around the gag. The vigilante’s eyes fell shut once more as he felt the bounty hunter withdraw his fingers. He heard the wrinkle of a condom wrapper and a few moments later, the cool wet head of Fett’s covered cock was probing his entrance, slowly spreading him open. Ado moaned as he felt the dick push inside him, filling him up. Once the bounty hunter’s length was embedded within the vigilante, Ado felt lips on his shoulder, arms wrapping around him, a chest pressing against his back, and a hand wrapping itself around the collar on his neck. Without another word, Fett began to move his hips and the vigilante was lost in a world of bliss. Every thrust was perfectly aimed, every push of the bounty hunter’s length against his sensitive prostate made waves of pleasure crash through Ado’s body. The tempo was slow, almost agonizingly so, and Ado begged through his gag for more, more, _more_!

There was breath against his ear, and Ado heard the bounty hunter growl. “I think the next thing I’ll buy is a blindfold.” Fett said, punctuating his sentences with a thrust of his hips “Hells, maybe even a full hood: to really _isolate_ you so you’ll think about nothing but _my cock_ in _your ass_.” The tempo of his thrusts slightly increased with each emphasized word “After that, I think I’ll indulge in some heavier gear, like an armbinder, or a straightjacket.” The bounty hunter chuckled darkly “Perhaps I’ll even get a full on sleepsack for you, so you can do _nothing_ but _wiggle_ like a _worm_ while I _fuck you_. Again. And again. And _again_!” Pressing a kiss against his shoulder, Fett growled “Would you _like_ that? To be _my little bounty_?”

Ado whimpered at the prospect, his cock twitching madly beneath him, begging to be touched. The vision of himself immobilized, unable to do anything as the bounty hunter pounded him was already enough to make him want to come, but then he thought of their positions being reversed: of _Fett_ being the one trapped in the sleepsack, unable to do more than wiggle and whimper as the vigilante claimed the bounty hunter again and again. That thought, combined with the pleasure radiating throughout his body, was almost enough to make him burst on the spot.

“Mmmph, _mmph_!” Ado moaned, begging for release.

He could feel the bounty hunter’s smirk against his skin, “Heh, I thought so.” And with that Fett began to pound him in earnest.

It didn’t take long after that. The bounty hunter chased his own orgasm ferociously, and just when Ado started to think he couldn’t take any more, he felt the other man’s breath hitch and his length pulse inside of the vigilante, and a hand wrapped itself around Ado’s cock. That was all it took, his vision flashed white and tremors wracked his body as his cock throbbed in Fett’s hands, his cum spraying all over the sheets.

Ado let his head rest against his forearms as the last tremors of his orgasm subsided and he felt Fett pull himself out of the vigilante’s ass. Letting his eyes drift shut once more, Ado waited for the bounty hunter to start untying him. Instead, he felt the hand on his cock squeeze once and the bed shift as the bounty hunter repositioned himself. Opening his eyes, Ado looked down to see that Fett was now laying sideways on his back beneath the vigilante, head level with the larger man’s cock.

Noticing Ado’s eyes on him, Fett looked up and winked at the vigilante “You didn’t think we were _done_ , did you?” And without another word Fett leaned up and wrapped his hungry lips around the vigilante’s length.

 _What’d I tell you?_ Ado smirked beneath his gag as the bounty hunter suckled needily on the sensitive head of his cock, seeking to bring the vigilante to orgasm once again and fill the smaller man’s mouth with his seed. _Oral. Fixation._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we finally get some more background on Boba and Ado's relationship.  
> Side note, the "Fuck Planet" is actually a story idea I have that I may or may not write. I'm not sure yet.  
> If you haven't realized this by now, this story will not be JUST smut. I actually plan on having some character development and romance in here eventually.  
> Remember to leave a comment to let me know what you think!


	4. A Tall Tale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters 4 and 5 are shorter and have no smut so I decided to post them together. It's mostly just character and world-building stuff.  
> Sorry :(

Boba was sitting in one of the lounge’s luxury chairs wearing light fatigues and reading an article on his datapad when Dona entered his apartment, a leather case slung over one shoulder. Boba didn’t even glance up at the blue twi’lek, opting to continue reading the article. It wasn’t until Dona set the case she was carrying down on the coffee table and cleared her throat that the bounty hunter finally acknowledged her.

“Dona,” Boba said curtly, briefly flicking his eyes up to the twi’lek woman before return to his reading.

Dona put a hand on her hip and glared at Boba. “You said you wanted my help?”

The bounty hunter marked his spot in the article and set the datapad down, looking up at the twi’lek “That’s right, though I expected you an hour ago.”

“I wanted to give you time to _clean up_.” Dona said with a smirk. She glanced around the lounge “Where’s your new roomie?”

Boba jerked a thumb in the direction of the hall where Janic’s new room was situated. “Over there, unpacking his stuff.”

Dona cocked an eyebrow, interest piqued “ _Really_? And here I though he was one of those ‘nothing but the clothes on my back’ kind of guys.”

She walked off in the direction Boba had indicated and after a moment of indecision, the bounty hunter followed her. If Dona was here then that meant he wasn’t going to get the peace and quiet necessary for reading again any time soon. He was better off making sure the twi’lek didn’t probe too much into the vigilante’s past; Hells knew she’d dug a little deeper than what was comfortable with Boba’s own history.

Inside the previously unused room that Janic would be staying in, the vigilante had been hard at work, already having set up a cot in the far corner of the room with an armor locker next to it. The vigilante’s few personal possessions-trinkets mostly, were lined up neatly on a shelf above a small workstation and everything had been dusted clean. Janic himself had his back to them, currently adjusting one of the trinkets on the shelf: the tooth Boba remembered seeing him pack back at his safehouse.

He was also wearing nothing but a pair of snug briefs.

Dona froze upon seeing the vigilante, her eyes going wide and color flushing her cheeks. _Note to self,_ Boba thought wryly as he moved to stand beside the blue twi’lek. _Janic needs casual clothes._

Upon noticing their entrance, the vigilante turned and smiled, “Oh, hey Dona! What’re you doing here?”

To her credit, the info broker was quick to recover from her surprise. “Fett enlisted my help in finding you a new neighborhood to protect.” She cleared her throat “I didn’t realize you weren’t dressed. I’m sorry.” Judging from the way her eyes hungrily drank in the vigilante’s musculature and the substantial bulge in his briefs, she most certainly was _not_.

Janic’s violet eyes widened and his cheeks turned red “Oh! Um… sorry…” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing away “I kind of don’t have anything other than my armor to wear…”

Dona managed to wrench her eyes free from her devouring of the vigilante’s form to flash him a smile “It’s fine, really.”

 _I’ll bet_. Boba snorted, something that he didn’t want to identify igniting in his chest only to be immediately stamped out beneath his metaphorical heel. Sensing an opportunity to change the subject, Boba’s eyes drifted over to the tooth, curiosity sparking to life in his chest. “What’s that?” On seeing the glint in Janic’s eye he added “And if your answer is just ‘a tooth’ I’m going to punch you.”

Smirking, Janic took the tooth off of the shelf and held it up for the bounty hunter and info broker to see, his near-nakedness forgotten. “It’s a _sarlacc_ tooth.”

Boba’s eyebrows raised. He’d been to the Great Pit of Carkoon, the sarlacc there’s teeth were _massive_. This tooth was shorter than his forearm. Dona, who’s eyes had drifted back down to the vigilante’s crotch asked “How big was it?”

Janic shrugged, oblivious to the twi’lek’s ogling of him. “I dunno’ maybe twenty meters?”

Boba eyes widened “ _Wide_?!” _That’s twice the diameter of the one in Carkoon! What the kriff?!_

Janic blinked “What? No! _Deep_!” his brows furrowed “Do sarlacc even _get_ that big?”

“Oh, they most _certainly do_.” Dona murmured, eyes still locked in admiring the vigilante’s… ahem, _grandeur_.

That made a bit more sense, Carkoon’s sarlacc was estimated to be over a hundred meters deep. It would certainly explain the size discrepancy between the teeth. “So a baby then.”

Janic frowned, placing the tooth back on the shelf “No, no, it was an adult… sarlacc don’t get much bigger than that where I’m from.”

Boba cocked an eyebrow at that but instead of pursuing that line of inquiry said “So how’d you get it?”

Janic’s grin was back as he said. “Yanked it out while I was climbing my way out of it.”

 _That_ certainly was not something Boba had expected. He struggled to find words before speaking “W-uh… y… d… b… huh?” He failed.

Dona for her part, was snapped out of her trance and narrowed her eyes at the vigilante, scrutinizing him. “ _Really_?” Boba recognized that tone of voice: Dona was about to start digging.

Janic gave them a confused look. “Is… is that surprising?”

Boba shook his head, forcing himself to remember how to speak “I… can count the number of people I’ve heard of who’ve successfully escaped being swallowed by a sarlacc on my _hands_! And they’re mostly either Jedi or Hutts!”

Janic cocked his head to the side “Wait, Hutts?”

“Indigestible.” Dona supplied.

“Ah.” Janic shrugged “I don’t know what to tell you. Where I’m from it’s not that rare. Hells, we even get _trained_ on how to do it using a dummy one!”

“Where _are_ you from, exactly?” Dona probed, a familiar manic light in her eyes as she moved closer. Boba readied himself to intervene if her questions started to make Janic uncomfortable.

The vigilante shrugged, looking away. “Nowhere special: a small world called Valdera.”

Dona was leaning forward, starting to violate Janic’s personal space “What’s it like? It sounds so _very_ interesting!”

Janic’s eyes darkened, his expression turning cold “It was… okay…”

Boba stepped in before Dona could ask anything else and make the vigilante any more uncomfortable “I called you here for a reason, not to make small talk.”

Janic’s expression softened, clearly grateful for his intervention. Dona shot a glare his way but nevertheless stepped back, turning on her heel to march back into the hall “I brought my terminal, it’s in the lounge.” She glanced over her shoulder, brushing one of her lekku out of the way. “You better be paying me for this.”

“I’ll buy you something nice, how about that?” Boba replied, following after her.

After a moment, the bounty hunter heard Janic’s footsteps behind him, and ignored the faint kindling warmth that bloomed in his chest when the vigilante’s muttered “Thanks.”

…

Dona was a curious person by nature. It was the reason she was in the information business in the first place; she just _needed_ to know things. So naturally, when she smelled a secret, she put every ounce of her will into uncovering it. This, of course, meant she had made her fair share of enemies. She’d earned the ire of Hutts, gangsters, rebels, even the Empire once, (THAT had been fun) but had always managed to come out (mostly) unscathed. How? Simple:

Dona didn’t have clients. She had _friends_.

True, some of them, like Boba, would vehemently deny that their relationship was anything more than strictly professional, but you didn’t survive in this business as long as she had without knowing something about people. She was careful about who she did business with, only those she knew were or could become loyal to her could utilize her services, to everyone else she was a ghost. Dona knew how to make herself likeable and valuable, win the loyalty of others and they will protect you. Fett alone had saved her life a dozen times, and had expanded her business (intentionally and not) to other reliable folks like Janic. But in order for her to know if someone was trustworthy, she needed to do some _research_.

That was how Dona found herself back at her hideout, sitting in front of her terminal in the midst of her various projects, scouring the various databases she had at her fingertips for any information on the planet Valdera. She’d just returned from Fett’s place; there had been little progress in finding Janic a new spot to do his vigilante stuff. There weren’t many places as easy to clean up as Vapor Town on the Smuggler’s Moon, and the fact that Janic himself seemed a little distracted hadn’t helped. In the end, Dona had promised to keep an eye out and left to do some research. Now she was skimming through a few decades-old articles about a small sub-species of sarlacc indigenous to Valdera published in some science magazine that had long been shut down by the Empire.

Janic had been half right about being from ‘nowhere special’. Valdera was a small, isolated planet that hadn’t even been a part of the Republic back in the day. Information on the actual people of Valdera was scarce. Outside of some scientific interest, the place had little to no contact with the rest of the galaxy, and it seemed like the Valderans preferred it that way. There were no resources that couldn’t be gained more easily from somewhere else and the natives had strict laws regarding interactions with offworlders. Why they were so isolationist, Dona couldn’t quite figure out. She was able to learn that the Valderans were not human, but a species of near-humans, but what made them different from regular humans wasn’t elaborated on.

She’d been looking through some of the remains of Jedi Archives that had been salvaged and preserved on the holonet when she'd found it: the memoirs of a Valderan Jedi written several hundred years ago. It looked like Janic wasn’t the only Valderan who managed to escape his homeworld. Smirking to herself, Dona opened up the file and started reading.

She wasn’t smirking when she finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact #1: The sarlacc bit was originally going to be in the last chapter, but I felt it would have fit better in this one. The species of sarlacc on Valdera is incapable of launching its spores into space so that is why they're so much more numerous and, due to their greater numbers, so much smaller (I would also like to note that it is SIGNIFICANTLY easier to escape from a Valderan sarlacc than it is to escape from a normal one, especially for a Valderan since they have built up a slight immunity to the neurotoxin the sarlacc uses to paralyze its prey)
> 
> Fun fact #2: Ado being a near-human came about because I wanted a reason that he could cum multiple times in a row, and now it's turned into... a lot more than I'd originally intended. Curse my love of world-building!
> 
> Fun fact #3: Because of the isolated nature of Ado's homeworld, he's quite ignorant about the rest of the galaxy. You'll be seeing more of this naivety and ignorance in the future.
> 
> As always, remember to leave feedback. Do you like Dona and Ado? Do you think I'm portraying Boba well? Are you curious about the Valderans? Do you not care and just want smut? Let me know what you think!


	5. A Lazy Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second of the two smutless chapters.

Though he would never admit it out loud, Boba was a little concerned when he left Nar Shaddaa for the first time since Janic had moved in with him. He’d spent a few days helping the vigilante settle in, but before long he had a new bounty to hunt offworld. One week later and a few thousand credits richer, Boba Fett returned to Nar Shaddaa to check up on his new roommate. When he entered his apartment, helmet tucked under one arm, Boba had been expecting any number of scenarios: Would he find Janic gone? Would there be a massive mess? Would he be waiting for him on his bed, naked and begging to be fucked? Would the vigilante have lain a trap for him, finally having decided that the bounty hunter had outlived his usefulness? ( _“You have trust issues, Fett.”_ That voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Dona teased.) All of these possibilities and more raced through Boba’s head as he opened the door to his apartment… and every single one of them was wrong.

At first glance, the apartment seemed completely unchanged, it wasn’t until Boba had moved into the lounge did he see what Janic had done…

The cushions of the sofas had been removed and placed between them to build some sort of structure. The vidscreen was on but paused, displaying the opening to some show that Boba didn’t recognize. Brows furrowed, the bounty hunter was about to seek out the vigilante and demand an explanation when he heard shuffling behind him.

“Fett? You’re back already?”

Turning around, Boba saw Janic standing in the entrance to the kitchen wearing the light shirt and slacks Boba had helped him purchase before leaving, a large bowl filled with some kind of purple chips in his hands. The bounty hunter cocked an eyebrow “What exactly is this?” he said, gesturing to the structure made from the cushions of his sofas.

Janic had the decency to look embarrassed, averting his eyes as a faint blush dusted his cheeks “It’s… it’s a pillow fort…”

Boba blinked “A _what_?”

“A pillow fort.” Janic repeated, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “I built a pillow fort.”

The bounty hunter narrowed his eyes “ _Why_?”

The vigilante looked down at the bowl of chips in his hands, eyes darkening “When… when I was little my dad and I would build one and sit inside it watching vids from offworld. With nothing to really do I decided to… I don’t know… reminisce?”

Boba frowned, this was the first time Janic had mentioned either of his parents. “And the chips?” he was fairly certain he didn’t have _that_ in his cabinet.

Janic shrugged, “The people of Vapor Town are still sending me money as thanks. Without having to spend it on repairs or necessities, I decided to indulge a little…” the vigilante looked back up at Boba and held out the bowl. “Want some?”

Boba raised his eyebrows, taken aback by the offer. “What?”

Pulling the bowl back, Janic shrugged “I was just wondering if you wanted to join me.”

Boba scowled, he was the deadliest bounty hunter in the galaxy; he did not sit around in… cushion constructs or whatever it was. He had a reputation to protect. “No.” Boba said flatly, turning around and marching towards the stairs that led to his room. “And I expect the cushions to be back _on_ the couches by the time I come back down.”

“Are you _sure_?”

Something in Janic’s voice made Boba pause with one foot on the steps. It sounded… small and… sad? Slowly, the bounty hunter turned around to face the vigilante. Was he… _pouting_? He was! Ado Janic was giving the infamous Boba Fett the most pathetic, wide-eyed pout he could muster!

And it was _working_!

“Fine! Fine!” Boba grumbled “I’ll join you in your stupid thing! Just let me change out of my armor first.”

Janic’s pout instantly vanished, replaced with one of the biggest, shit-eating grins Boba had ever seen. “Really? Thanks!”

Boba glared at the vigilante “You’ve been hanging around Dona I see.”

If it was possible, Janic’s grin grew bigger “She said that would work on you.”

Shaking his head, Boba marched up the steps, muttering (to his eternal mortification) “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Once he’d changed out of his armor, Boba came downstairs to see Janic lying on his stomach inside the opening of the fort facing the screen, the remote in one hand and the bowl of chips sat in front of him. On seeing the bounty hunter, Janic grinned and patted the spot next to him. Still grumbling, Boba (totally reluctantly) came over and joined the vigilante. The floor inside of the structure was covered in smaller pillows and blankets, likely from the spare bedding that was kept in a closet somewhere in the apartment.

 _I’ll have to wash them now_ , Boba noted with annoyance.

As he laid down next to Janic, Boba pulled the bowl of chips over to himself and nabbed one, stuffing it into his mouth. The chip was surprisingly sweet, almost fruity, but there was still the standard saltiness he was used to. “So you used to do this with your dad, huh?” Boba asked after swallowing.

Janic nodded, looking wistful “Yeah, it was sort of our thing. We’d did this every weekend until I had to leave for the Academy.” The vigilante looked down at his hands “We, uh… we did it once more after I graduated, during my leave before I got sent to my first posting.”

 _So you were some kind of soldier_ , Boba mused, but didn’t say anything. This was the most Janic had ever talked about his past and the bounty hunter’s curiosity was too great to spoil it.

However, instead of elaborating, Janic turned to look at the bounty hunter, violet eyes glinting with curiosity. “What about you? Did your dad ever do something like this with you?”

Boba snorted at the thought. “My dad was more the type to teach a toddler how to shoot a gun than build…”

“Pillow forts.” Janic supplied

“…yeah, that.” Boba stared at the screen, trying to picture he and his father doing something so… quaint.

“What about your mom?” Janic asked, drawing the bounty hunter’s attention. “Did she ever do something like this with you?”

An image of Zam and Taun We appeared in his mind, but Boba dismissed it, despite being prominent in his early life, neither of those women had been particularly motherly. “I don’t have one.”

“Oh,” Janic looked away “Sorry.” After a moment he turned back to the bounty hunter “Do you mind if I ask what happened to her?”

Boba snorted “Nothing, she never existed.” On seeing the confused look Janic gave him, Boba added “I’m a clone.”

Janic’s eyes widened “They can do that?”

Boba glared incredulously at the other man. _What kind of backwater did you grow up in?_ “ _Yes_ ,” he drawled “yes they can do that.”

Janic frowned, noticing the bounty hunter’s tone “What? Did I say something wrong?”

Boba sighed “You failed your galactic history class didn’t you?”

Janic fidgeted, looking away “They… they didn’t teach us galactic history.”

Boba blinked, not expecting that. “Oh.” Feeling uncomfortable, he decided to change the subject. “What about yours?”

Janic looked back at him. “My what?”

“Your mom.”

“Oh,” the vigilante winced “She was… there… sometimes. Mostly she looked after my sisters with the other moms.”

Boba realized that he’d only gone and made the other man even more uncomfortable (and a small part of him wondered why he _cared_ ) and decided to try changing the subject again. “So what are we watching?”

The grin was back on Janic’s face as hit play on the remote and the opening sequence began. “You’ll see. Now quiet, the show’s starting.”

The “show” was some old, Republic-era crime drama set on Coruscant. It was filled to the brim with bland characters, predictable plot twists, and a gross misunderstanding of the legal system. He’d vocalized his displeasure plenty of times, but Janic was either completely oblivious or deliberately ignoring him to enjoy the poor bounty hunter’s suffering (and honestly, he wouldn’t have been surprised with either one of those scenarios). To Boba’s dismay, once the episode had finally crawled and dragged its way to its boring conclusion, another one started right up. By the time that one was almost done, Boba felt like clawing his eyes from their sockets and pulling his brain out through his ears.

Suddenly, an idea popped into the bounty hunter’s head. He and Janic were laying here in this cozy little space, awfully _close_. “You know…” Boba leaned against Janic and suggestively whispered against his ear. “I can think of something far better to d-”

“Shh,” Janic interrupted, catching the bounty hunter off-guard “He’s about to confess!”

Shoulders slumping, Boba grumbled and grabbed a pillow. Resting his chin on it, the bounty hunter resigned himself to a boring afternoon of poorly written, inaccurate crime dramas.

…

Boba didn’t remember when he’d fallen asleep. Likely at some point the sheer inanity of what he was watching on screen had overloaded his brain and rendered him comatose. When he openedhis eyes, Boba noticed that it was now dark out; he must have been asleep for a while. He was lying on his side within the pillow fort. The vidscreen was still playing in the background, though thankfully at a low volume. Sleepily, Boba noticed the now empty chip bowl by his head. He was about to get up and take the bowl back to the kitchen when he felt breath on the back of his neck.

His tired mind registered that a strong, muscular arm was wrapped around his chest and a warm body was pressed flush against his back. _Janic…_ Boba realized belatedly. The vigilante was spooning him.

Boba was tempted to get up (he _should_ get up, a small part of his mind shrieked) but found he didn’t have the energy, exhaustion finally catching up to him. The bounty hunter had been working hard for a whole week and now he wanted nothing more than to just sleep his weariness away. The fact that being curled up in the vigilante’s arms felt surprisingly… nice, wasn’t helping. As if sensing Boba’s hesitation, Janic shifted, arm tightening around the bounty hunter and his face burrowing into Boba’s hair, murmuring something unintelligible in his sleep. A faint warmth filled his chest and Boba’s mind was made up. Closing his eyes, Boba allowed the steady rhythm of Janic’s breathing drown out that part of him screaming at the bounty hunter to get up, slowly lulling him back into the warm embrace of slumber.

Pressing himself a little tighter against Janic’s warmth, Boba was unaware of the smile that graced his lips…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love revealing bits and pieces of Ado's backstory (as I said, I just LOVE world building). I think I'm finally starting to get a firm grasp on these characters and I'm actually eager to dive deeper into this. Who would have thought that the reason I started this fic (the smut) would turn out to be my least favorite part of writing it? That being said, we should be back to our regularly scheduled smut in the next chapter: it's Boba's turn to bottom! ;)
> 
> As always, please let me know what you think of this chapter and the story in general. Feedback motivates me to write whenever I'm feeling stuck and is ALWAYS appreciated, even if it's negative.


	6. A Pleasant Present

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray for alliteration!  
> Gonna be starting school again so who knows when I'll next update.  
> Still, five chapters over this summer. Not bad.

After almost a month, the search for a new neighborhood to protect was going nowhere. Ado had decided take on some mercenary work to keep his skills honed, as well as earn a bit of money; he refused to be reliant on the charity of Vapor Town anymore, especially now that he was no longer protecting them. Dona had been kind enough to help him find a job serving as the bodyguard of some businessman while he engaged in a transaction with some shady individuals. It was simple, and paid reasonably well; the client had been looking for someone who could protect him without being seen, (didn’t want to spook his customers, apparently) and Ado happened to fit the bill. The exchange went off without a hitch, (fortunately, it looked like what was being traded was some experimental heat lamps, nothing Ado’s conscience would be bothered by) neither party tried to double-cross the other, and Ado had gotten paid a fair sum for his involvement.

Unfortunately, this left Ado with a problem; namely, how he was gonna pay Dona back for finding him the job.

“Oh, you don’t _have_ to…” The blue twi’lek said sweetly, taking a sip from her cup of caf.

“Yes, I do.” Ado replied, grabbing his own cup and sitting down across from her in the small kitchen of Boba’s apartment.

The bounty hunter was offworld again. According to Dona this was usual; unless he had a bounty to pursue there, Boba rarely came to the Smuggler’s Moon. It was only after Ado had moved in that Boba had taken to make more frequent visits. Not really knowing anyone else outside of Vapor Town, Dona had become a regular visitor for Ado. The two got along well enough, but Boba had warned the vigilante (and apparently now part-time mercenary) to not let down his guard around the info broker.

“Why?” Dona asked innocently, “absent-mindedly” twirling the tip of one of her lekku in her fingers.

Ado narrowed his eyes “Because if I _don’t_ you’ll hold this over my head and at some point in the future try and guilt me into doing something incredibly stupid for your amusement.”

Dona’s shocked expression was rather good, Ado might have even been convinced if he didn’t already know it was fake. “I would _never_!”

Ado cocked an eyebrow “I know about the commercial, Dona.”

The twi’lek info broker instantly dropped the façade. “Bastard told you about it, did he?” she pouted “Kriff’n Mando. Spoiling my fun.”

“Tell me how I can repay you.” Ado said, adding “So long as it isn’t something silly, I’ll do what I can.”

Dona took a long sip from her caf, eyes looking thoughtful. Finally, when she’d placed her cup back down on the table, the twi’lek asked “How good are you with machines?”

Ado blinked “Um… decent? Why?”

Dona fiddled with the one of the pockets of her coveralls that her lekku were normally tucked into “I got this hobby. I find old abandoned droids, fix them up, and then pass them along to this droid rights group I know who find them new lives somewhere else.”

Ado’s eyebrows shot up “That… wasn’t what I was expecting. You’re a droids rights activist?”

Dona snorted “Hells no! I just like fixing shit and in exchange for my services they’ll cover for me if I ever get some unwanted heat on my back. Anyways,” she took another sip “My latest project is rather… difficult. I need an extra set of hands.”

Ado considered it. While he wasn’t exactly, the best when it came to machines, he was competent enough to follow directions. “Sure, sounds easy enough.”

The corner of Dona’s mouth curled into a knowing smirk “Oh trust me, there’s nothing ‘easy’ about Dees.”

Ado cocked an eyebrow “Dees?”

“D8-D35.” Dona supplied “You’ll know what I’m talking about when you meet him.”

Frowning, Ado took a long drink from his cup then said “That doesn’t sound reassuring.”

Dona smiled, “It wasn’t supposed to be.” After taking another sip from her cup, the twi’lek stretched her arms over her head and asked “So what’re ya gonna do with all those credits you now have?”

Ado pondered this. Aside from the essentials and some maintenance stuff for his equipment, there really wasn’t anything he needed. Idly, he thought back to when Boba had first invited him to live in his apartment and suddenly an idea had popped into his head.

Dona clearly noticed “I know that look…” she teased, leaning forward “you’re thinking of something _naughty_ aren’t you?”

Ado flashed the blue twi’lek a smirk “It’s a surprise.”

Dona smirked back “Oooh! I like the sound of that! I expect details later.”

The vigilante raised his caf to the twi’lek, and the info broker responded by clinking their cups together “It’s a deal.”

The comfortable silence that fell between them was broken only a few minutes later. “ _So_ …” Dona said, eyes glinting mischievously “Do you wanna see the _infamous_ commercial? I saved a copy of it for blackmail.”

Ado couldn’t have hidden the grin on his face even if he wanted to. “Hells, yes.”

…

 _You shouldn’t be back here already_. Boba did his best to ignore the nagging voice in the back of his mind as he flew the Slave I down onto the landing pad of his apartment. He should have waited a few weeks before he returned to Nar Shaddaa. Others, especially Jabba, were starting to notice that he was visiting the Smuggler’s Moon more often lately and rumors were starting to spread. While he was quite confident that his apartment was free of surveillance, Boba was unnerved by the prospect of the Hutt or others finding out about Ado. The vigilante could be seen as a vulnerability, something that could be used to manipulate Boba himself, and that worried him more than he was comfortable with. Boba Fett was supposed to be untouchable, it was an important part of his reputation and what made him so respected, even by the likes of Jabba the Hutt and Darth Vader. Boba Fett didn’t have any weak points to exploit so they had to negotiate with him on even footing. If someone thought Ado was important to him, then all of a sudden Boba would lose that invulnerability he relied on so much.

So why was he coming back already? Why did a small part of him suddenly long for that irritatingly cushy apartment more than the bunk on the Slave I? Why was it that on some nights he dreamed of the vigilante’s irritating smile, twinkling violet eyes and the feeling of his arms wrapped around Boba? What was it that drew him to Ado?

And when did he start calling the vigilante by his first name?

Knowing that self-contemplation wasn’t going to get him anywhere, Boba banished his ruminations from his mind as he exited his ship and made his way towards the elevator that would take him up to the apartment. He noted (it was _not_ happily, _it was not happily_!) that Ado’s speeder was parked, meaning that the vigilante was likely inside.

Once he’d taken the elevator up and entered the apartment, Boba removed his helmet and briefly scanned the lounge for the vigilante. Thankfully, there weren’t any more pillow forts, nor was that stupid cop show Ado liked playing on the vidscreen. Instead, Boba found the younger man standing with his back to him in the kitchen, doing some maintenance work on his blade on one of the counters.

“You better not be getting oil on my nice countertops.” Boba drawled.

Ado perked up at the bounty hunter’s voice and turned to face him, grinning broadly “Hey! You’re back!”

(Boba pretended his heart didn’t skip a little when he saw the vigilante’s smile.)

Shrugging, Boba said “I’m just making sure you haven’t destroyed the place yet. It was a gift you know.”

Ado cocked an eyebrow, clearly he didn’t. “Really? From who?”

“Jabba.” The bounty hunter felt a grin forming on his lips as he added. “For killing the previous owner. Come to think of it…” He made a finger gun and aimed it at Ado, making a point to close one eye like he was staring down the sights of a rifle. “I shot him right where you’re standing.”

Ado crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the counter. “Uh, huh.” He clearly wasn’t buying it.

Lowering the finger gun, Boba turned to leave, shooting over his shoulder “Believe what you will. I’m gonna go change.”

He had made it halfway to the stairs when Ado’s voice stopped him “Hey, wait!” Turning around, Boba saw the vigilante following him from the kitchen, stopping momentarily to grab a bag off of one of the couches. Once he’d closed the distance between them the vigilante held up the bag “I bought you a surprise.”

Boba cocked an eyebrow “Since when do you have money?”

Ado shrugged “Dona found me some work as a bodyguard.”

“So you’re hired muscle now?” Boba said, a faint smirk on his lips. “Oh how the mighty have fallen.”

Ado frowned “It was just for one night. I’m not giving up on my ‘crusade’ as you call it.” Shaking his head, the vigilante lightly shook the bag “Anyways, the guy payed well, so I decided to splurge a little and get something for you.” On seeing the look the bounty hunter was giving him, Ado added “Don’t worry, I made sure to set some aside for the payments.”

To be honest, Boba had completely forgotten about the monthly payments over Ado’s bounty. A small amount of money once a month barely registered on his account, especially with all of the other regular credits he earned from his bounties and his “salary” from Jabba. Not that he would ever tell the vigilante that. Instead, Boba asked “Is it a gun?”

Ado coughed, caught off guard a little “Um… no it’s the _sexy_ kind of present.”

“Guns _are_ sexy.” Boba stated, fighting down his smirk.

Ado blinked “I… no it’s something you _wear_.”

“I’m not putting on lingerie.” Boba said flatly. He had to have _some_ standards in the bedroom!

Ado’s eyes widened, taken aback by the suggestion “What? _No_! I-look, just go upstairs and I’ll show you okay!”

Boba couldn’t help himself from smirking, a familiar hunger already brewing in his gut. “Well, if you _insist_ …”

…

Boba examined his naked form in the large, wall-to-floor mirror within his room while the equally nude vigilante worked on getting Boba geared up with whatever it as he was hiding in the bag lying behind them on Boba’s bed. The first thing Ado had unveiled was an armbinder: a long black leather sleeve attached to a harness and collar. On the outside of the top of the collar, Boba saw something that looked like the teeth of half a zipper. Boba’s arms would be held behind his back and slid into the sleeve, which was to be laced up tight, restraining the bounty hunter’s arms behind him. Before putting the armbinder on, however, Ado had slid a buzzer into Boba’s hand.

“Since I doubt you could your fingers snap in there,” Ado explained “if you want to stop, just press the button to give me the signal” The vigilante attached a small earpiece to his left ear “I’ll hear the buzzer and get you out. Okay?”

Boba cocked an eyebrow, glancing briefly down at the buzzer in his hand before looking back up at Ado with a mischievous smirk and pressed down on the button.

“Ack!” Ado hastily yanked the earpiece out, wincing in pain.

Boba flashed his teeth in a savage grin “Oops.”

The vigilante shot him a glare, though it was undercut by the faint twitch in his lips of a smile that wasn’t quite suppressed “I should have known you’d do that.” Ado sighed and glanced down at the earpiece, muttering to himself, “Gotta’ turn the volume down a little bit…” Looking back up to glare at the bounty hunter once more, Ado said “ _Don’t_ do that again unless you want to stop. Got it?”

Boba, now having sufficiently amused himself, palmed the buzzer so he wouldn’t accidentally press down on it, “Sir, yes, sir.” He drawled, a coy smirk still on his lips.

“Good, now put your arms behind your back.”

A few minutes later the armbinder was in place and Boba tested his bonds. He could wiggle a little, and he had just enough space to press on the buzzer if needed, but other than that his arms were completely trapped. The leather was comfortable, but the position was already starting to put a slight strain on his shoulders. He was helpless, and that sent a surge of arousal straight to the bounty hunter’s groin.

“Everything good?” Ado asked, checking the tightness of the binder’s straps, making sure nothing was cutting off circulation.

Boba nodded, eyes fixated on his own reflection and how the black leather stood out against his olive skin “Yeah, yeah, now hurry up! I’m getting impatient!”

Ado landed a light smack against Boba’s right ass cheek. “Patience is a virtue, Fett.”

Boba glared at Ado’s reflection but didn’t respond. In the mirror, Boba saw Ado give him a smile and then turn around, pulling something else out from the bag behind them. Before he could see what it was, however, Ado had already pulled it over the bounty hunter’s head, plunging him into darkness. He felt leather sliding against the skin of his face and down his head, and before he ask what was happening, Boba’s vision was once again unobstructed.

Boba blinked and stared at his reflection “Really, a hood?” He said dryly, the vigilante had put him in a black leather hood with three openings, one for his mouth, and two for his eyes, in addition to two small nose holes to breathe through. “Am I really so ugly that you need to cover my face?”

Ado was standing behind him, zipping the bottom of the hood to the top of Boba’s collar. “It came with the binder, it felt like a shame not to use it.” Once he was finished, Ado wrapped an arm around Boba’s chest and pulled the bounty hunter against him, “And besides,” Ado purred, other hand reaching up to cup Boba’s chin and turn his head so that they were looking each other in the eye. “I think it brings out your eyes.”

Boba snorted, but whatever sarcastic retort he had was swallowed up when Ado’s lips fell over his. Moaning into the other man’s mouth, Boba pressed himself back against Ado, grinding his ass against the hardening length of the vigilante’s member. Boba opened his mouth invitingly and trembled in delight as Ado’s tongue plunged inside without hesitation. They stayed there, grinding together with their hips and exploring each other’s mouths with their tongues for what felt like ages. Ado’s hand had strayed down to Boba’s groin, fingers curling around the bounty hunter’s cock and giving it a firm squeeze. Boba was about to beg to be fucked right then and there when Ado pulled pack, a thin strand of saliva still connecting their lips.

“Back in a second.” He whispered, giving Boba’s cock a parting squeeze before he released the bounty hunter, leaving Boba to stare at his reflection once again. A moment later, Ado returned with something in his hand and moved to stand in front of Boba. Grinning, Ado held up the muzzle gag Boba had bought previously. “I thought you might want something to keep that Oral Fixation of yours busy.”

Boba narrowed his eyes “I _don’t_ have an Oral Fixation!”

Ado rolled his eyes “Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that buddy. Now open up.”

Not nearly as reluctantly as he was pretending to be, Boba opened his mouth to accept the gag’s pecker. Once the false penis had slid all the way in, Ado wrapped the strap around Boba’s head, buckling the gag in place. Boba swallowed around the pecker filling his mouth, his eyes drifting shut as he took a moment to enjoy the heavy weight pressing down his tongue and the softness of the leather muzzle firmly pressed against his face. Suddenly, Boba felt Ado’s finger cup his chin once more and tilt his head back. Opening his eyes, Boba saw the vigilante gazing down at him, a strange look on his face that made warmth bubble in Boba’s gut.

A small smile graced Ado’s lips “You know, you actually look really cute like that, Boba…” He said, leaning forward to press his lips to the leather covering the bounty hunter’s forehead.

Boba was suddenly immensely grateful for the hood that covered the sudden blush that spread over his cheeks. That frightening, increasingly familiar sensation was blooming in his chest at the vigilante’s words and Boba was sorely tempted in that instant to press on the buzzer and get the hell out of there. Maybe find some unlucky thug with a price on his head to shoot. Anything to get away from this sensation the vigilante had kindled within him.

Thankfully, when Ado pulled back he was wearing a look that Boba was far more comfortable with: hunger. “Just one more thing, Boba.” The vigilante knelt down bringing him level with Boba’s cock and opened his hand to show the bounty hunter three metal rings lined with glowing green strips of light. Smirking, Ado asked “Know where these are gonna go?

Boba had a pretty good idea, but he didn’t have to wait long to find out if he was right. The first ring went around the base of the bounty hunter’s cock and balls, pushing out his genitals. The second ring wrapped tightly around the bottom of Boba’s shaft, and the final one fit snuggly just below the mushroom head of his cock, exerting a tantalizing pressure that made Boba moan in delight. Once he’d slid the final ring into place, Ado flashed the bounty hunter a playful smirk and wrapped his lips around the head of Boba’s dick. Boba’s eyes fell shut and he moaned into his gag as the vigilante gently suckled on his glans. His hips started rocking, trying to get more of his cock into that delicious warmth, only for Ado to grab his waist and hold him still. After one more blissful suck, Ado pulled off of Boba’s cock, giving it a parting kiss. Boba groaned at the loss, but didn’t have long to lament as Ado grabbed him by the collar and pulled him over to the bed.

A few minutes of prep work later and they were sitting chest-to-chest on the mattress, Boba straddling Ado’s hips, ass hovering over the vigilante’s cock. Ado hesitated only long enough to make sure the bounty hunter was ready before he took hold of the other man’s hips and slowly lowered him onto his shaft. Boba stifled a whimper as the head of Ado’s dick slowly pushed through the ring of his anus, the lube from the condom allowing easy entry. Inch by inch, Boba’s ass sank onto the cock, filling the bounty hunter up more and more. Before long, Boba found himself fully impaled on Ado’s length. Slowly adjusting himself to the dick buried within his ass, Boba nuzzled his face into the crook of Ado’s neck, mumbling through his gag. It was almost too much, being speared open like this, but Boba was nothing if not persistent; if he wanted something, he got it, and right now Boba wanted to feel Ado balls-deep inside of him.

The vigilante had a hand rubbing the bounty hunter’s waist while the other reached up to stroke his back just beneath the armbinder. “How’re ya doing?” he whispered into Boba’s ear.

Even if he wasn’t gagged, Boba’s reply still would have been a muffled “Hmm…”

Ado chuckled “Is that good? You’ll have to speak up a little bit.”

Boba snorted and grunted into his gag “Mmph, mmph…”

The bounty hunter felt lips pressing against his shoulder in a kiss “So,” Ado muttered into his skin “Are you ready?”

In response, Boba rocked his hips _hard_ , drawing a groan from the vigilante. A satisfied smirk forming beneath his muzzle, Boba rocked his hips again, moving the cock within him in and out. Before he had a chance to do it a third time, however, Ado’s hands firmly grabbed hold of his waist, stilling the bounty hunter’s movements.

Pulling back, Boba shot the vigilante a glare. Smiling apologetically, Ado said, “Don’t forget who’s in charge here, Boba.”

The bounty hunter’s muffled grumblings were short lived when Ado resumed the rocking of their hips, this time at his tempo. Boba swallowed around the pecker in his mouth when Ado’s cock brushed against his prostate, sending the first of many waves of pleasure radiating through him. His eyes rolling back into his head, Boba allowed himself to be carried away as Ado bounced the bounty hunter up and down on his cock, expertly hitting that golden spot within him again and again.

Feeling the vigilante’s fingers dig into his hips, Boba opened his eyes and watched the concentration on the other man’s face as he fucked in and out of the bounty hunter’s tight asshole. It was cute in a way, Ado seemed to be more focused on maximizing Boba’s pleasure with every thrust. Boba leaned forward and briefly nuzzled his face into Ado’s neck once more, breathing in the other man’s scent. His mind was beginning to fog as more and more pleasure thrummed through his nerves.

Tilting his head back, Boba’s eyes clenched shut as his body reached a crescendo. With the way Ado was pounding into him, he likely wouldn’t last much longer. Already, Boba could feel his climax approaching. The pleasure was crashing through him, making his body tremble in delight. It was building… building… building until…

Nothing.

Wait. _What?_

His body had reached its peak, but refused to tumble over the edge, plateauing there and leaving him unsatisfied. The bounty hunter could feel his cock pulsing, the walls of his ass clenching tightly around Ado’s cock as it continued to pound into him. Boba’s eyes shot open in horror as the realization hit him:

He couldn’t cum.

Outraged, Boba swore furiously into the muzzle, struggling against the armbinder restraining him. This managed to get Ado’s attention, the vigilante slowed their tempo to a halt and looked at the bounty hunter with an amused expression on his face.

“Is something wrong?” There was a hint of genuine concern in his voice, but beneath that was an insufferable smugness that told Boba the vigilante knew exactly what the problem was.

This only served in making the bounty hunter _more_ enraged, causing him to grunt ferociously into his gag. “Mmmph, mmph, mmph, _mmmmph_!”

“Oh, right.” Ado quickly reached up to remove the muzzle.

Once he could speak again, Boba shot Ado the most vicious look he could muster and snarled “ _Why can’t I cum_?!”

Ado was smirking now, false surprise coloring his voice “ _Really_? You _can’t_?”

“Tell me why before I bite your damn nose off!” Boba snapped, not in the mood for playing games.

Ado didn’t seem at all bothered by the threat, “ _Well_ …” he teased, smiling innocently as his fingers gently massaged Boba’s waist. “If you _must_ know, those cock rings I put on you are a little… _special_. Together they generate a little energy field that stops you from ejaculating.” He shrugged “Don’t worry, I did some research and even tested them out myself a few days before you got back. They’re safe.”

 _Safety_ wasn’t exactly the first thing on Boba’s mind right now. “Take them off.” He demanded.

Ado blinked, clearly pretending to be surprised at the bounty hunter’s command. “Are you _sure_?” His lips were curled into a sly smirk.

Boba’s eyes narrowed “ _Yes_!”

Ado reached down and traced a finger up the underside of Boba’s sensitive cock, sending spikes of pleasure jolting up the bounty hunter’s spine. Boba bit his lip, trying in vain to stifle the whimper that was drawn out when the vigilante gently tapped on the top of his throbbing glans.

“If you want me to stop,” Ado whispered, “you know how to ask.”

Right, the buzzer. Boba had almost forgotten about it in his anger. The bounty hunter’s hand clenched around the buzzer, thumb finding the button, seconds away from pressing down on it when he hesitated. _Did_ he want to stop?

Boba felt warmth flood his cheeks beneath the hood and looked away, suddenly embarrassed. If someone saw him now, all blushing and nervous like a virgin, his reputation as a ruthless, hardass bounty hunter would be obliterated like Alderaan. Emitting confidence, even when faced with frightening odds, was as second nature to him as firing his blaster. Orgasm denial was new territory for him, and while it had been a surprise, on reflection, Boba found that it hadn’t exactly been _unpleasant_.

“Do you want to stop?” Ado asked gently, all playfulness suddenly gone from his voice. In that moment, Boba had no doubt that Ado would have stopped if he’d told him to, regardless of whether or not the bounty hunter pressed the buzzer or simply asked. It was… odd, having so much trust in someone, and made something bloom in his chest that Boba couldn’t quite identify.

Biting his lip, Boba looked back up and, mind made up, shook his head, “N-no…”

“‘No’ what?” The infuriating vigilante’s eyes were twinkling, but beneath them lay a hunger that sent shivers down the bounty hunter’s spine.

Boba gulped, steeling himself “I want you to continue.” At Ado’s cocked eyebrow, Boba added “ _Please_ …”

Ado smiled, “Atta’ boy.”

Boba’s eyes narrowed “Don’t call me boMMPH!” Before he could finish, Ado had replaced the muzzle, leaving Boba unable to do anything but grunt and glare at the vigilante, and soon he couldn’t even do that when Ado resumed fucking him.

Once more lost in a heightened state of bliss, Boba groaned around his gag and let himself get carried along on this wild ride. His sweat made the leather of the hood and armbinder stick to his skin. The sensation of Ado’s member pistoning in and out of his ass was exquisite, and before too long, Ado had Boba twitching and squirming in his bonds, begging and pleading through the muzzle to be fucked harder… faster… _deeper_!

More than once, the bounty hunter felt the other man’s cock pulse in his entrance as the vigilante came, but always he resumed pounding into him a moment later. Boba found his mouth watering in these moments, and started to hungrily suckle on the pecker stuck in his mouth, closing his eyes and allowing himself for a moment to imagine that it was actually Ado’s cock that his lips were wrapped around, and that maybe, if he sucked long and hard enough, he would be rewarded with the delicious taste of the vigilante’s ample load on his tongue.

Boba’s own cock was twitching violently from the prolonged ecstasy. The bounty hunter was almost permanently stuck on the very edge of his completion, unable to fully reach it. It was pure torture and pure bliss all at once, and Boba was soon reduced to a shivering, whimpering mess, needing to lean against Ado for support. He wanted… he _needed_ to come, but at the same time he didn’t want this heavenly nightmare to ever end.

Unfortunately, even with his inhuman stamina, Ado could only keep it up for a finite amount of time. After one last shuddering orgasm, the vigilante pulled his cock free of the bounty hunter’s ass, excess cum leaking out of the condom and dripping down his thighs. With his pleasure starting to fade, Boba let out a frustrated groan at the loss and struggled against the armbinder, desperately trying to reach his own cock to pleasure himself. His squirming stilled the moment he felt Ado's hand wrapping around his length, giving it a few tantalizing pumps.

He felt a hand cup his cheek, and a thumb wipe away tears Boba hadn’t even realized he’d shed, followed by the gentle murmur of Ado’s voice. “Shh… I’ve got you… I’ve got you…”

The hand on his cheek moved and grabbed the back of Boba’s hood, pulling the bounty hunter towards the vigilante and pressing their foreheads together. Opening his eyes, Boba felt warmth flush through his veins at the look Ado was giving him.

The vigilante flashed him a soft smile and repeated “I’ve got you…”

Taking the bounty hunter with him, Ado leaned back and laid them both down on the bed. A bit of rearranging and Boba found himself cuddled against Ado’s chest, head resting on one of the vigilante’s firm pecs. All the while, Ado’s hand never left the bounty hunter’s cock, every once in a while giving it slow, steady pumps. Boba was starting to squirm again, trying to find something to hump himself against.

Boba stilled when he suddenly felt Ado’s fingers fiddling with the ring secured just below his glans at the same moment the vigilante said “Look at me.”

Anticipation building in his chest, Boba complied, turning his head on Ado’s chest to lock eyes with the vigilante’s violet gaze, giving the most needy, pleading look he could muster, and adding in a few whimpers for good measure.

Ado smiled at his begging and, in one fluid motion, slid the ring off of the bounty hunter’s cock. “ _Cum_ …”

Boba didn’t need to be ordered. With one of the rings gone, the energy field that was stopping Boba’s orgasm was deactivated and the bounty hunter’s vision flashed white as he came. Spurt after spurt of milky semen jetted from his cock, shooting so far that some of it splattered against his chin. Boba’s whole body convulsed with every pulse and even when the torrent had diminished to weak sputtering, his body still trembled.

“Good boy,” Ado soothed, one hand rubbing the back of Boba’s neck with the other milking out the last vestiges of the bounty hunter’s orgasm.

Boba didn’t have it in him to even be mad that Ado had called him “boy” again. His bones felt like jelly, and all he could think of was sleep, even if he was using Ado as a pillow. Drowsily, Boba curled himself against the vigilante’s body. Boba let out a content sigh when he felt Ado’s arms wrap around him and pull him closer, gently nuzzling his head into the valley of the vigilante’s pecs.

After a few minutes, however, Ado broke the comfortable silence, shifting to get up “Come on, let’s get you out of this stuff.”

Boba whined through his muzzle, burrowing himself tighter against Ado’s chest in protest. In his lust-addled state, Boba didn’t care that he wasn’t exactly acting like the galaxy’s greatest bounty hunter, that if his more coherent self could see him now he’d probably be horrified, or even that if he didn’t get his restraints removed soon, he’d likely make himself incredibly sore. He just wanted to rest, and enjoy Ado’s embrace for as long as he could.

With a sigh, Ado relented, “Okay, just for a little while.” He said, wrapping his arms back around Boba, one hand stroking the back of Boba’s head while the other massaged between his shoulder blades.

Boba felt a faint press through the leather of lips against his brow as Ado kissed his hood. When he woke up, no doubt Boba would do his damnedest to try and forget his behavior and all of the warm feelings bubbling in his chest, but for now, he was content to lay there, enveloped in the warmth of the vigilante’s embrace…

…and if he woke up in a headlock again, Ado was getting kicked in the balls.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please let me know what you think and point out any mistakes I've made.


	7. A Strange Situation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of two chapters I'm posting today. No sex in this one sadly. :(

Dona swore as sparks flew out of the black chassis of her latest project, slightly singeing her overalls. Upon hearing a light chuckle, the twi’lek turned to glare lasers at her alleged “assistant” from beneath her goggles. “ _Enjoying_ yourself?”

Ado wasn’t even trying to hide his smirk as he returned his attention to the holographic schematics he was _supposed_ to be using to help guide her repairs on D8-D35. “I told you that wire wasn’t going to fit there.”

“Well where the hell _else_ is it supposed to fit?!” Dona snapped, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration.

Ado shook his head, “I don’t know. The schematics just say that there should only be three wires there, not four.”

“So why are there _four inputs_?!” Dona was seconds away from ripping her lekku from her skull. “Not having four wires will leave the circuit open and then the joint won’t function properly! Who _designed_ this thing?!”

Ado shrugged “You _did_ say there was nothing easy about Dees.”

Groaning, Dona sat down on a nearby stool. “Whoever manufactured the D8-D line needs to die a slow, painful, death. This is _not_ how you design a droid!”

“Well, now you know why he was thrown out.” Ado supplied “Whoever owned him probably couldn’t get a refund.”

Dona sighed “And here I thought the reprogramming would be the hard part.” Taking a moment to collect herself, the twi’lek stood back up. “Right, hand me those clippers, I’m redoing the wiring on this joint completely.”

Ado’s eyebrows shot up “That seems a little _drastic_ don’t you think?”

Dona grit her teeth, “A smart man once said: ‘when a problem seems too big to handle, _destroy the entire planet_ ’.”

Ado blinked “Okay… was this ‘smart man’ named _Darth Malak_?”

Dona shot the vigilante a puzzled look “You know who Malak is but had never heard of the Clone Wars?”

Ado winced “Boba told you ‘bout that did he?” At Dona’s smirk Ado sighed “Of course he did. I learned about Malak while trying to stop Traven. Apparently, he’s the reason Taris is such a nightmare to live on.” He held out the clippers to the twi’lek “Well, _one_ of the reasons anyways.”

“Fair enough.” Taking the clippers, Dona began the process of removing all the old wiring. The next few minutes passed in relative quiet. Dona would ask for a new tool or wire, and Ado would provide. She’d almost finished the rewiring when suddenly they both heard the front door to the apartment open on the other side of the droid.

“What. Is. That?” a familiar voice growled out. “And _why_ is it in my living room?”

Dona froze and slowly turned to glare at Ado “I thought you said he wouldn’t be back until next week?”

The vigilante had the decency to look sheepish “Er… guess I was wrong?” Slowly he stepped around the droid and raised a hand to wave at the grumpy bounty hunter “Uh… hi Boba…”

Said bounty hunter growled from his position in the doorway, still fully armed and armored. “Answer the damn question you two.”

Before either of them had the chance to however, the two white lights of the droid’s eyes lit up as he activated. “Hello master!” he said in a deep, intensely cheerful voice “How may I pleasure you today?”

After an awkward beat, Boba cocked his head to the side “ _What_?”

Before anyone had time to react, the droid was stepping forward, “I am here to serve your every-”

**_CRASH!_ **

Dona winced, she had yet to finish rewiring the joint of his left leg, and when the droid made to step forward, he instead wound up face-planting on the floor.

“Oh dear,” the droid said into the carpet “I appear to have fallen.”

Dona sighed and got to her feet. “Ado’s been helping me with a project of mine. Boba, meet D8-D35. Dees for short.”

Boba removed his helmet, revealing his signature scowl and walked forward, inspecting the droid. Dees was large and bulky, and had he been upright he would tower over all of them, he had clearly been designed to have a muscular appearance. The back of his black chassis was open, revealing the droids inner workings. His head was circular, with two glowing white eyes placed in the center. As the droid attempted to get up, only succeeding in flipping himself over, Boba made an observation.

“Why does it have a dick?”

Dona smiled sheepishly, she’d kind of been hoping Boba wouldn’t notice that. “He’s… kind of a sex-droid…”

“I am a D8-D model personal sexual assistant!” Dees supplied helpfully from the floor “I was designed to fulfill a dominant male persona in sexual encounters! My body is made of a soft, silicone mesh for maximum comfort, and my auto-lubricating phallus can be adjusted in size for a wide range of partners of all species!”

At the puzzled look Boba shot her, Dona shrugged “I uh… think he’s in sales-pitch mode.” At the bounty hunter’s continued glare, the twi’lek cleared her throat. “D8-D35, enter standby mode.”

“As you command Master!” The droid cheerfully replied before it’s optics dimmed and it’s form went rigid.

Ado quickly moved to pull Dees back up into a standing position, all the while Boba was still glaring at Dona. “ _Why_ is it here?”

Dona shrugged “I needed the space, my place isn’t big enough to work on him.”

Boba turned his glare to Ado “And you _allowed this_?”

The vigilante had the decency to look sufficiently chagrined “I owed Dona and _you_ were the one who said I should make sure not to leave myself indebted to her.”

Boba sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. Putting his helmet back on, Boba turned around and marched right out of his apartment, saying over his shoulder. “I’m going to go shoot something. That thing better be gone when I’m back.”

A few moments after Boba left, Ado said matter-of-factly “He’s always so _grumpy_.”

Dona smirked as she checked Dees over for damage to his frame from the fall “Hey, he’s _your_ boyfriend.”

She’d been expecting Ado to blush and stammer out a denial, not for him to wince and stare wistfully at the door the bounty hunter had departed through moments earlier. “If only…”

Dona winced. _Shit, way to go, genius._ Taking a deep breath, the blue twi’lek turned to face the vigilante “Alright, what happened?”

Ado blinked and shot her a confused look “What? Nothing.”

“Then why are you suddenly all sulky.” Dona said, putting her hands on her hips.

Ado’s brows furrowed “I’m not.”

“You are.” Dona shot back “What, do you think he doesn’t even care about you?”

Ado cocked an eyebrow “At any moment he could decide that he wants to turn in my bounty. In all honesty, I’m surprised he hasn’t done so already. Pleasantly surprised, mind you, but I don’t expect it to last forever.”

It was Dona’s turn to cock an eyebrow. Pessimism wasn’t something she’d come to expect from Ado, and it unnerved her more than she’d like to admit. “Do you really believe that?” she pressed “The man invited you to live with him when you had nowhere else to go and even hired me to help you find a new district to clean up. Why would he do that if he doesn’t care about you?”

Ado shrugged, looking away from her “I… I don’t know. Maybe he thinks I’m a… a plaything or… or a pet. It doesn’t matter.” The vigilante walked over to a window and stared out into the city “I’m fine with this, however long it lasts. But…” he sighed and glanced at her over his shoulder, violet eyes cold as steel “I’m tired of just sitting around here, taking the occasional merc job. I need to get back out there. I need to start helping people again.”

Dona frowned “But we haven’t found a place that you could protect without angering someone important.”

Ado shook his head “I don’t care. I came here to make a difference, to make life better for as many people as I can. I can’t do that cooped up in here.”

Dona sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as she joined him at the window, mentally reviewing all the districts she’d examined in the past few months. “Fine, there’s a district not far from here in the Lower City called the Crush. It has a few big fish with their hands in it, but Jabba isn’t one of them.” Glancing over to Ado, she added “You’re gonna get yourself killed, you know that right?”

A wry smile touched Ado’s lips. “Yeah, but I learned long ago that people like me don’t get happy endings.”

“You mean reckless vigilantes?” Dona teased, hoping to lighten the mood. “I can’t imagine why.”

Ado hesitated “That too…”

Unbidden, something she’d read in that Valderan Jedi’s memoirs resurfaced, and Dona suddenly was sickeningly aware of what he was referring to. “Do you wanna talk about it? About Valdera?”

Ado turned to look at the twi’lek, a myriad of emotions running across his face; surprise, fear, uncertainty, and finally, a cold understanding. “You did some research didn’t you?”

Dona shrugged “I am an information broker, it’s what I do.”

Ado clenched his teeth, making the scar along his jawline bulge out and turned to look back out the window. “No. No I don’t want to talk about it.”

Dona was conflicted. A part of her wanted to press the issue, the part that always needed to know more. But ultimately, the other part, the part of her that was not just an information broker, but a _friend_ , won out. “Just promise me you’ll talk to someone about it. Maybe Boba?” Ado snorted and shot her a skeptic look. “Okay, maybe not Boba.” Dona corrected “But someone.”

Ado shrugged “Sure, I’ll think about it.”

Resigning herself to only getting that much out of the vigilante, Dona nudged Ado’s shoulder with her own. “Come on, you heard Fett, we’ve got to take Dees here away before he gets back or he’ll probably roast us alive with that flamethrower of his.”

Ado turned towards her, a small smile on his lips “Yeah, okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This depressing chapter was a friendly reminder that Boba and Ado's relationship is incredibly dysfunctional.


	8. A Claim Staked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second of the two chapters posted today. This one has sex! And not just ANY sex: ARMOR SEX!  
> This was originally going to be chapter 7 but I realized I'd forgotten to include some things I'd wanted to beforehand so you guys got two chapters instead! Lucky you!

Nox Jal Rrosh was rather mild as far as kaleesh go. He worked a decent paying job guarding a quiet little clinic in the Crush run by an elderly ithorian named Dr. Uzim Dand. Some of his people would chafe at having such a boring job, but not him, Nox was just glad to have a job that didn’t require a whole lot of work for a change. He maybe had to bash some heads in once a month, but generally his mere presence was enough to intimidate any would-be troublemakers into toeing the line. And if they didn’t, well that was what his blaster was for.

Take now for instance: a group of six zabrak punks got it in their heads to start up a little gang and go around demanding protection money from the local businesses. Naturally, the idiots had decided that their first target would be the clinic with a big scary kaleesh out front. So far it wasn’t working out for them.

“Are you listening Skullface?!” The leader of the gang, a tattooed brat missing some of her teeth and brandishing a rather pathetic-looking knife, growled at him.

“Not really, no.” Nox stated, lazily rolling his shoulders. He cocked an eyebrow beneath his skull-mask “Also, ‘Skullface’? Is that _really_ the best your pathetic little brain can come up with?”

Another zabrak, this one rather big (well, compared to the others, meaning he only came up to the middle of Nox’s chest) stepped forward, fists raised. “Ya wanna go Skullhead? Do ya?! I’ll knock your block off I will!”

Nox looked down at the zabrak punk, cocking his gun. “Do you _really_ think that’s a good idea? I know you’re a bit slow so I’ll give you a minute to answer.”

The leader zabrak snarled, raising her knife “I’m done listening to the like of you Skullface! Either pay up or I’ll-”

Before she could finish, a shadow dropped down from above, knocked away the knife, and dropped the leader with a single punch to the gut. Blinking disinterestedly, Nox watched as the figure then proceeded to beat the nonexistent crap out of the zabrak gang until they were scrambling away in tears, half-heartedly swearing revenge.

With the fight (if you could even call it that) over, Nox looked the newcomer over. He was a muscular man that came up to Nox’s chin, completely encased in dark, form-fitting armor and a retractable blade attached to one arm.

Nox wasn’t impressed.

“I’d say thanks, but I didn’t exactly need any help beating up a bunch of dumb kids.” The kaleesh said.

“I know,” the man responded “but I thought it would be nice if they learned their lesson, _without_ getting shot in the face.”

Nox glanced down at his blaster rifle before shooting the stranger a bored glare “So does my _dashing rescuer_ have a name?”

The man nodded “Call me Night Edge.”

Nox snorted “Lame. What, did you come up with that when you were a kid?”

“Night Edge” flinched “I didn’t exactly _choose_ it, the moniker was given to me.”

“By a child?” Nox quipped. “What are you, some silly little _vigilante_?”

The man sighed “Just forget it.”

“You _are_ aren’t you?!” Nox laughed “Let me guess: you want to ‘protect the innocent’ right?”

“Night Edge” turned away “I’m leaving.”

“No, wait, don’t go!” Nox called out mockingly as the vigilante ran off “You haven’t given me your autograph yet!” Once he was sure the vigilante was gone, Nox chuckled “I can’t wait to tell Dand about this!”

…

 _I am never telling Boba about this!_ Ado swore to himself as he made his way back to the apartment. Beneath his helmet, Ado’s cheeks were burning in shame. Back in Vapor Town, people were always glad for his aid. Sure, that gang hadn’t exactly been the most intimidating bunch, but he’d expected _some_ gratitude! He was also ashamed with himself. He wasn’t supposed to be doing this for the gratification, but to help people. So what if one asshole didn’t appreciate his help? Why is he so bothered by it?

He was still in a bad mood when he stormed into Boba’s apartment. Ignoring the bounty hunter lying on the couch in full armor, Ado stomped into his room, removed his armor, and was halfway through removing his undersuit when his brain finally registered that _Boba was back_.

Face crimson in embarrassment, Ado opened the door to his room to sure enough, find, Boba standing outside, arms crossed and almost assuredly cocking an eyebrow beneath his visor. “Uh… welcome back?” Ado said sheepishly. _Today is just not my day_ …

“Took you long enough.” Boba said dryly, tilting his head to one side “Here I am, all dressed up and everything for you and you don’t even appreciate it.”

It was Ado’s turn to tilt his head to one side “What are you talking about? You haven’t even changed out of your armor yet.”

“Oh _haven’t I_?” Boba said coyly, stepping back and allowing Ado to look at him fully.

Sure enough, it was _not_ the bounty hunter’s usual armor. While it was certainly in the Mandalorian style and possessed the same green-and-grey color scheme, the armor was _much_ more form-fitting, the fabric beneath the plates was skin tight, highlighting his muscles, and his legs were more armored than normal, stopping just short of his groin like chaps, highlighting a _very_ prominent codpiece. When Boba turned around there was even a buttplate designed to conform to the swell of his buttocks, highlighting his firm ass. Only the helmet remained the same.

 _And… I’m officially hard._ Ado’s eyes widened “Um… okay, wow… Did something happen to your old armor?”

Ado could tell Boba was glaring at him beneath his visor. “No, you dense idiot.”

The vigilante crossed his arms “Then why the new armor?”

Boba shrugged “I remembered you mentioning how much you’d like to fuck me in my armor, so I went on the holo-net and found a site that sells custom-made armor for sex.”

Ado’s brows shot up “That exists?!”

“Turns out there’s something for every little niche fetish on the holo-net.” Boba replied “I initially planned on just getting something that looked like my armor but I decided to add a few embellishments.” Boba gestured to the armor “It won’t stop a blaster but I’m not gonna lie, I’m starting to see the appeal.”

Ado smiled, warmth blossoming in his chest, and closed the distance between them “So… you did all this… for _me_?”

Boba actually seemed a little embarrassed, glancing away “Well… yeah, I guess. I mean- it’s not like I was using the money for much else besides fixing my ship and equipment. And you’ve actually done a… decent job of looking after this place -minus the sex-droid- so I thought…”

Ado chuckled, gently taking hold of the bounty hunter’s chin and turning Boba’s head to face him “You’re really sweet sometimes, you know that?”

Boba promptly smacked his hand away “Fuck off.” He growled, but there was little bite to his words.

Ado smirked “I’d rather fuck _on_.”

Boba groaned “And my boner is now gone.”

“Are you _sure_ about that?” Still grinning, Ado reached around and pulled the other man against him, grinding his erection against Boba’s codpiece and grabbed the bounty hunter’s ass, making Boba oddly jump a little.

Boba quickly pushed Ado’s hands away from his rear “Uh… yeah, don’t do that.” At Ado’s confused look he added “You’ll find out why in a little bit. Just… leave that area alone for now.”

Obliging, Ado stepped back “So… my room, or yours?”

Boba snorted, “What do you think?” He turned around, moving back towards the couch and picking something up from one of the end tables. Turning back around he tossed it over to Ado who caught it and smiled when he saw what it was: a collar. “Now hurry up. Finish stripping and put that on.”

Ado eagerly complied, quickly stripping out of the rest of his undersuit and tossing it back into his room. Slipping the collar on around his neck, Ado quickly followed Boba upstairs to the bounty hunter’s room. Not five minutes later, Ado found himself tied spread-eagle to Boba’s bed, hands and feet stuffed into bondage mitts, the buzzer he’d bought previously clenched in one fist. His lips were stretched around a large green ball-gag, drool already starting to leak form the corners of his mouth.

“You know,” Boba said from where he sat straddling the vigilante’s hips, still in full armor. “I think I should keep you gagged all the time.” A gauntleted hand caressed the peaks and valleys of Ado’s abs “You’re much nicer when you can’t sass.”

The vigilante cocked an eyebrow “Gmmph glmmgh mmmph!”

Boba’s hand froze “I take it back. Somehow, even gagged you can _still_ sass.”

Ado grunted out a chuckle behind the gag and ground his hips against Boba’s still plated ass.

The bounty hunter flinched, not quite stopping the moan that escaped his helmet. “You’re impatient.” Boba said, probably giving Ado his most withering glare from beneath his helmet. “I told you to leave that area alone for now.”

Ado shrugged as best he could with his arms spread apart. “Gmph mmph.”

Boba sighed and climbed off of Ado, moving to lay on his side next to the vigilante. “If you’re going to be difficult I’m just going to leave you tied up here until you’re more cooperative.”

Ado did his best to smirk around the gag in his mouth, not buying it for a minute.

Boba cocked his head to the side and huffed grumpily before saying “Fine, if you’re so impatient, we’ll just go straight to the main event.”

Boba climbed off the bed and turned away from Ado. His hands reached behind him and unlatched the claps holding the buttplate in place. Slowly and carefully, the bounty hunter pulled the buttplate away from his ass, making a wet squelching noise in the process. Ado’s eyes went wide as the bounty hunter revealed the buttplug that was attached to the inside of the plate, wet and glistening with lube.

Boba looked over his shoulder at the bound vigilante. Ado could hear the smirk in his voice as he said “Did I mention that I bought the modular version? There are a number of different variants to several pieces of the armor. For example: a chastity cage for the codpiece, or a plug for the buttplate.” He turned back around and set the buttplate/plug on the nightstand, grabbing a condom he’d set out earlier and climbing back onto the bed. “Of course, we can explore _those_ later.”

 Boba unwrapped the condom and slid it over Ado’s now _extremely_ erect dick before straddling the vigilante once more, grinding Ado’s cock between his butt cheeks. Ado whimpered, his fist clenching and toes curling in their mitts, bucking his hips to match the bounty hunter’s motions.

“But for now…” Boba growled and, lifting his hips, leaned down, one hand reached up to grab hold of Ado’s collar and pull the vigilante up until his face was mere inches from the terrifying visage of the bounty hunter’s helm while the other hand slid down and clenched around Ado’s dick, aligning it with the wet and loose entrance to Boba’s sphincter. “…I want to see you _squirm_!”

Without any more warning, Boba impaled himself fully on Ado’s cock, causing the vigilante to cry out in pleasure as his shaft was engulfed in the clenching heat of Boba’s ass. Ado jerked in his bonds as the bounty hunter released his collar and leaned back, beginning to bounce himself up and down on Ado’s dick. The vigilante whimpered helplessly, entranced by the sight of Boba Fett riding him like a rabid nerf. His moans soon filled the air as, far too soon, Ado felt himself rising to his peak.

“That’s it.” Boba growled out, “Give it to me. Cum in me. Fill me up!”

Ado didn’t need any encouragement, clenching his eyes shut Ado screamed into the gag as spasms racked his body and his cock pulsed inside the bounty hunter, shooting his load into the condom. Boba’s hips slowed down slightly, but didn’t quite stop. Ado’s body went limp, but still Boba continued to bounce on his cock, the continued stimulation sending jolts up Ado’s dick to his spine.

“Is that it?” Boba hissed, causing the vigilante to open his eyes and look up pleadingly at the bounty hunter. “We were just getting started here.” Boba reached down and started to undo the clasps on the armor’s codpiece “We’re not done until I cum, or I drain _every last drop_ of seed from your balls, and as you can see…” Boba removed the codpiece, revealing the three inhibitor rings Ado had bought previously wrapped around his erection “…I’m not coming for a _long_ time.”

Ado could only whimper in response.

…

Seven. He’d had _seven_ orgasms. Ado wasn’t sure if his balls were ever gonna be the same after this, and they _still_ weren’t done. His body was absolutely soaked with sweat, his arms and legs were sore from struggling, all strength had left his muscles, his cheeks and chin were covered with drool, cum was dribbling out of the condom, smearing itself around his groin and Boba’s ass, and he had no idea how much time had passed, only that it felt like an eternity filled with nothing but pain and pleasure. It wasn’t bad enough for him to press the buzzer and end the session, but it still was pretty overwhelming.

Thankfully, it looked like Boba wasn’t fairing much better. The bounty hunter was hunched over, gauntlets uselessly grasping at the vigilante’s chest, his thighs trembling with every motion, his cock twitched and spasmed wildly yet not even a single drop of pre had leaked from its tip. The bounty hunter’s encouragement and taunts had long ago been replaced with heaving pants and the occasional moan. Clearly Boba had reached his limit, yet he stubbornly insisted on continuing on until Ado was drained dry.

The vigilante trembled weakly as he hit orgasm number eight, and Boba’s arms gave out, the bounty hunter collapsing against Ado’s chest, heaving heavily, helm pressed into his neck “What…” he breathed out “the _fuck_ … are you?”

Ado groaned into the gag, unable to answer. Boba seemed to realize this and weakly reached up, unclipping the strap around his head and pulling the gag free from his mouth. Ado flexed his sore jaw, wincing in pain, and quickly ran his tongue, over his chapped lips. His throat hurt as he croaked out “I think you should give up… I… I think I just came again.”

“I noticed.” Boba growled into Ado’s neck.

“No, not when you collapsed” Ado clarified “After that, right now.” He paused “And… it happened again. Shit, I think you broke something.”

Boba laughed bitterly “You’re not _human_ …”

“No,” Ado agreed “I’m Valderan.”

Boba actually pulled back to give Ado what he assumed was a confused look “Wait,” he said “Valderan is your _species_? You’re not human?”

Ado’s brows furrowed “I think the official term is near-human.” He cocked an eyebrow “Did the eyes not give it away?”

Boba snorted “No. So that’s why you can ejaculate enough to flood Kamino?”

Ado blinked “Um… yeah. Most Valderans are female, so what few men there are have to make up the difference.”

Boba stared at the vigilante for almost a whole minute before flopping back onto Ado’s chest and letting out a sigh “Lucky bastard. Let me guess, every man gets a harem of beautiful women catering to his every need too?”

Ado gulped, staring up at the ceiling “W-well not exactly… I mean it _is_ a harem but-”

Boba swore “Dammit! Where is this planet? It sounds like paradise!”

Unbidden, memories rushed back to Ado, causing the vigilante to cringe “I… I wouldn’t go that far…” He said bitterly. Quickly changing the subject, he said, “Hey, if we’re done can you get me out of this? My arms are hurting.”

Boba pushed himself up off of Ado’s chest and reached for the mitts restraining the vigilante’s hands “Fine, fine. Give me a moment.”

Once his hands were free, Ado flexed his fingers and dropped the buzzer on the bed. Boba, meanwhile, was carefully lifting himself off of Ado’s thankfully softening dick. Once his cock had completely left Boba’s ass, the bounty hunter flopped down to the side of the vigilante, moaning weakly. Ado forced himself upright and peeled the thoroughly used condom off his dick. He was about to reach down and undo the mitts binding his feet when he felt a gauntleted hand on his shoulder and force him back onto the bed.

“Hold on,” Boba said, getting to his knees next to the vigilante, making a point to display his cock, still erect and still wearing the inhibitor rings. “Seeing as I made you cum so many times, if you would be so kind…”

Ado smirked “Well I suppose it’s only fair…” He reached out a hand and slowly slid the ring at the tip of Boba’s cock off…

“AHHH! FUCK! FUCK! KRIFF! FUCK! SHIT! FUCKING FUCK! **_FUCK_**!”

Ado recoiled as the moment the ring was off, Boba screamed, doubled over, and ejaculated so hard his cum splattered Ado’s face. Wincing, Ado quickly wiped the cum off on the back of his hand and looked in concern at the bounty hunter, now curled up in a fetal position and whimpering pathetically.

“Boba?” He asked carefully “Are you okay?”

Normally, he would expect a smart remark, but instead all Ado got was a pitiful whine of “ _no_ …”

Cautiously, Ado put a hand on the bounty hunter’s back “How are you feeling?”

Boba groaned “Like I’ve been kicked in the gut, my balls have exploded, and my dick’s been split in two…”

A quick check told Ado that Boba’s genitals were, in fact, intact so the vigilante merely rubbed the poor bounty hunter’s back, confused as to what happened. “You read the instructions for the rings right?”

After a pregnant pause Boba weakly croaked out “Instructions?”

Ado frowned, that wasn’t a good sign. “Um… how long were you wearing those rings?”

“A few hours, pretty much the entire time I was waiting for you to get back.” Boba said, managing to uncurl himself slightly.

Ado cringed “Boba, you’re only supposed to wear those things for _one_ hour at most!”

The bounty hunter groaned “Now you tell me…”

Ado sighed and reached down to undo the mitts binding his feet, pushing his own soreness away. “I’ll go get some ice…”

…

Nox was not having a good day.

Currently, the kaleesh was pinned by the throat against a wall by a war droid, it’s metal fingers slowly choking the life out of him. On the floor of the clinic in front of him, Dr. Dand was on his knees, currently begging to a rodian enforcer flanked by two more war droids.

“Please! This doesn’t make sense!” the ithorian pleaded “My agreement with Forkub was that I would pay the loan back a year later with interest! It’s only been a month!”

“Forkub changed his mind.” The enforcer said “He wants the money now.” The rodian held a blaster up to Dand’s head “Now pay up!”

Yeah, definitely not a good day.

Nox’s vision was staring to go dark around the edges when suddenly the metal fingers around his throat loosened up and he fell to the floor. Clearing his head with a shake, Nox looked up to see a shadowy figure had severed the war droid’s arm, then cut the droid in two. Before anyone had time to react, the figure kicked the blaster from the enforcer’s hand and then jumped up and used the rodian’s head as a staging point to launch himself up over the head of one of the remaining two war droids, decapitating it as he passed by. The final droid turned its lasers to bear on the new attacker, but the figure merely used the second droid’s body as cover, pushing it into the last droid before impaling them both with his retractable blade. Finally, the figure withdrew his blade from the deactivated droids and spun around, bringing the blade to the neck of the rodian enforcer, stopping his attempt to retrieve his blaster.

“I have a message for your boss,” the shadow said darkly, and suddenly Nox recognized the figure as the vigilante who had “saved” him from those zabrak punks a week ago. “Tell him Night Edge is in town, and this behavior will _not_ be tolerated.”

Suddenly Nox was feeling a slightly more serious about asking for that autograph.

Even if he still thought that name was dumb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Serious question. Does anyone even enjoy this fic? Like, are you interested in Ado's backstory at all? Cause we're reaching a point where there will be more plot and less sex pretty soon and I'm wondering if I should even bother. I'd really appreciate it if you guys left a comment and let me know what you think.


	9. A Second Take

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to spring break you guys get another chapter before summer!
> 
> A HUGE thank you to everyone who commented on the last chapter! You guys are what motivated me to continue this story!
> 
> I was going to move the plot forward, but I decided that, because I might not get another chapter out before my break ends, I'd give you guys more sex instead. (And it's more Armor Sex! Yay!)
> 
> For clarity's sake in case it's not obvious (which it probably is): This chapter takes place right after the end of the sex scene in the last chapter, and thus chronologically happens before the very end of Chapter 8.

Boba sat on the sofa in his apartment’s living room, still wearing what he’d come to refer to as his “sex armor” minus the helmet and groin, reading through the manual for the inhibitor rings with growing horror. “Why the _fuck_ would you put these things on my dick?! You said they were safe!”

Ado came up behind him, wearing nothing but a pair of briefs and holding an ice pack in his hand. “They _are_ safe so long as you follow the directions.” He handed Boba the ice pack and sat down next to the bounty hunter on the couch.

Boba took the pack and gingerly placed it over his aching cock and balls with a wince. “It says here that if you keep them on for too long your cock could _explode_!”

Ado cocked an eyebrow, taking the manual from Boba and pointing to the warning in question “No, it doesn’t. It says that prolonged use could-”

“I _know_ what it says!” Boba snapped, snatching the manual back. “Do they not have hyperbole on that backwater planet of yours?”

The vigilante winced “I’m sorry,” he said with a sigh “I thought I’d stored the rings with the manual. I didn’t expect you to try them without reading it first.”

Boba felt Ado’s arm start to wrap around his shoulders in comfort and shrugged it off, doing his best to ignore the hurt look that passed over the other man’s face at the bounty hunter’s rejection. Ado withdrew his arm, shifting on the couch and putting some space between the two of them. Doing his best to ignore the unpleasant feeling in his gut (it was not guilt! _It was_ _not guilt_!) Boba angrily tossed the manual onto the coffee table.

( _“You’re not entirely blameless here, Boba.”_ That voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Dona chimed in. _“You and I both know that you saw the manual and just chose to ignore it.”_ Boba decided to promptly kick the voice into a sarlacc pit to be digested slowly and painfully over a thousand years.)

Boba grunted and leaned back against the sofa, glaring at the ceiling. “How long did the doctor say until I could have sex again?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Boba saw Ado shrug “He said you should be fine once the cramp dies down, but to wait until tomorrow just to be sure.” The vigilante looked down at his own crotch, where a small towel had been shoved down his briefs “Also I’ve finally stopped leaking like a broken faucet, so that’s good.”

( _“Forgot about that didn’t you, ya selfish jerk?”_ The voice in his head quipped.

 _“Shouldn’t you be rotting in a sarlacc’s belly right now?”_ Boba angrily shot back, but the shame had already wormed its way beneath his skin.)

“Good,” the bounty hunter said. Taking a deep breath, Boba turned his head to look at Ado. “Are… um…” he hesitated, not quite sure how to word this. “How… how are _you_ feeling?”

Ado raised his eyebrows “Huh? Oh, right. Aftercare.” He smiled sheepishly “I suppose you’re the one whose supposed be looking after me right now, aren’t you?” The vigilante shrugged “Fine, I guess. A little sore, and my balls ache a little bit, but nothing too bad.”

“Right…” Boba returned his gaze to the ceiling momentarily before letting his eyes fall shut.

The silence that then fell between the two men was painfully heavy, like a wet nerf-wool blanket imbued with the essence of pure awkwardness had been draped over them. After far too long, Ado finally spoke up “Um… want to watch something?”

“If you put on that _stupid_ cop show of yours, I’m shooting you in the balls.” Boba growled out.

He could hear the pout in Ado’s voice when he mumbled “It’s not _stupid_ …” after a moment the vigilante added “Listen, I really am sorry about what happened.”

Boba waved dismissively at the vigilante, eyes, still shut. “Forget it, it’s fine.”

“Do you want me to get rid of the rings?”

Boba cracked open an eye to see Ado giving him a concerned look. “They’re safe so long as we don’t leave them on too long right?”

Ado nodded “That’s what the instructions say.”

Boba sighed, sitting upright. “Then I guess you can keep ‘em. Just… don’t use it for a little while, okay?”

Ado smiled, “Sure thing.”

The silence that fell between them once more was significantly lighter, though still some tension lingered in the air. After a moment, Boba said “You realize you now owe me, right?”

The vigilante cocked an eyebrow “Oh?”

Smirking at the other man, Boba leaned back “Yeah, my orgasm wasn’t exactly _satisfying_. You’ll need to correct that tomorrow.”

Ado smirked back, a twinkle in his eyes “I think I have an idea about that actually.”

Now it was Boba’s turn to cock and eyebrow “Is that so?”

Ado leaned forward, eyes glinting deviously and whispered what he had in mind into the bounty hunter’s ear. “I was thinking… maybe you could put the armor on again and let _me_ be in charge.” He said, breath tickling Boba’s ear “You showed me such a good time, let me return the favor. Let me take care of you…” he placed a hand on Boba’s thigh, “Maybe we can see how many times _you_ can cum.”

A shiver went down Boba’s back at the vigilante’s words, and he found his loins stirring at the other man’s idea. This, _of course_ , because the galaxy hates him, prompted another cramp to flare up in his groin, and soon Boba was doubled over in pain once more, swearing beneath his breath.

Ado laid a hand against Boba’s back, rubbing soothing circles that he could barely feel through the armor. “I’m guessing the cramp hasn’t gone away yet?”

“What the _kriff_ do you think?” Boba snarled through gritted teeth. “This is the worst fucking cockblock in my kriffing life!”

Ado sighed “Want me to see if we have some painkillers lying around?”

“ _Please_ …”

Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

…

And come it did, albeit slower than Boba would have liked. Boba had spent some time bringing Ado up to speed on the various modular features of the bounty hunter’s new sex armor the previous evening, so Ado was all prepared, laying out the pieces he wanted Boba to wear beforehand. Boba hadn’t allowed Ado to sleep in his bed, despite how much some small, hidden part of him wanted to. He woke up early, the prior day’s cramps nothing but an (extremely) unpleasant memory, and showered. Once he had cleaned himself up and dried off, Boba exited the bathroom to find Ado already sitting naked on his bed, the other implements they intended to use lying next to him: the buzzer, a muzzle gag, and a condom.

Boba cocked an eyebrow as he made his way over to the armor Ado had laid out for him. “Already up? I’m not even dressed yet.”

Ado smirked, “I wanted to watch the show.”

Boba frowned “I’m… not sure I can make getting _into_ the armor sexy…”

Ado chuckled “Well, there will be plenty time for sexy later, don’t you think?”

Boba rolled his eyes but nevertheless turned his back to the vigilante and started to get dressed. The undersuit of the armor to which all the pieces would be attached had several variations that left more or less of his olive skin exposed. Like the one he’d worn the prior day, this particular one was open at the groin and ass, but it also extended up Boba’s chest, ending just below his neck, showing off his rigid abs and prominent pecs. He was wearing the majority of the same pieces he’d worn yesterday, minus the codpiece, chestpiece, and buttplate, which he left off. The only difference were the gauntlets he wore. Instead of the standard versions, this variation was designed to latch together and bind his hands, though he’d need Ado’s help to do that part.

When he’d placed everything on but the helmet which he held in his hands, Boba inspected himself in the mirror, making sure everything was on correctly, and caught Ado gazing hungrily at him in the reflection.

Boba flashed the vigilante a smirk over his shoulder “Well? What’re you waiting for?”

Ado smiled and got to his feet, grabbing the buzzer and muzzle off of the bed. Coming up behind him, Ado wrapped his arms around the bounty hunter and pulled him flush against him and whispered into the bounty hunter’s ear. “You ready to get started?”

Boba rolled his eyes “What do you think genius?”

Ado cocked an eyebrow, meeting Boba’s gaze in the mirror. “I didn’t hear a _yes_.” He teased.

Boba lightly jabbed Ado’s gut with an elbow “Did you forget that this is your _apology_ for yesterday? Stow the sass and gag me already.”

Ado smirked and planted a quick kiss on Boba’s cheek that the bounty hunter scowled at “Yes, _sir_.”

Without another word, Ado stepped back and lifted up the muzzle gag in front of Boba’s face. Obediently, the bounty hunter opened his lips, taking the gag’s pecker into his mouth. Once the pecker had completely filled his mouth and the soft padding of the muzzle was pressing firmly against his cheeks, Ado cinched the gag into place with the straps.

“Everything good?” the vigilante asked.

Boba grunted once in affirmation and lifted the helmet onto his head. Once his face was hidden securely behind the visor, Boba took the buzzer from Ado’s hand and palmed it. He then folded his arms behind his back so Ado could latch the gauntlets together. Once the vigilante had done so, Boba tested the restraints, satisfied that he would not be able to get free.

Finally finished with their prep, Ado pressed himself up against Boba from behind once more, arms wrapping around the bounty hunter’s chest, resting his chin on Boba’s shoulder and smiling at him through the mirror. He could feel the vigilante’s erection pressing between his butt cheeks. “You look great, you know that?”

Boba had to agree. The armor complimented his form rather well, even with some pieces removed. Ado actually looked rather plain compared to him at the moment. _Maybe I can do something about that next time…_ Boba made a mental note for later and ground his ass against Ado’s cock.

Ado chuckled, grinding back, one hand straying up Boba’s chest to grope his pecs while the other strayed lower to wrap around the bounty hunter’s erect cock. “Feeling needy?”

“Mmmph…” Boba moaned as Ado’s hand squeezed his length, eyes falling shut as he allowed himself to succumb to a submissive state.

“I thought so.” Ado smirked and, to the bounty hunter’s frustration, released his cock.

Placing his hands on Boba’s shoulders, Ado turned him around to face the vigilante and then pushed the bounty hunter to his knees, bringing Boba’s head level with the other man’s cock. With one hand, Ado grasped the bounty hunter’s chin and tilted his head up to look at him, while with the other, Ado took hold of his own cock and rested it against Boba’s visor. The captive bounty hunter whimpered, shivers doing laps up and down his spine at his own submission.

 “Before we get started,” Ado said with a smirk, clearly enjoying the sight of his cock resting on Boba’s helmet “I thought I’d remind you just who you belong to right now.” He punctuated the sentence by slapping his cock against Boba’s visor a few times.

Boba snorted at the line, but beneath the helmet his face was burning. His mouth watered around the pecker stuffed past his lips at the sight of Ado’s delightful cock so close yet so far. Unbidden, Boba’s eyes drifted shut and he eagerly nuzzled the vigilante’s length with his helmet.

Ado chuckled and stroked a hand over the back of the bounty hunter’s helmet “You’re insatiable, you know that?”

Boba opened his eyes and met Ado’s gaze through the visor, throwing in a high-pitch needy whine for the vigilante’s benefit as he continued to nuzzle the cock resting against his helmet.

With a grin, Ado pulled back Boba’s head slightly and started to jerk his cock. “Well far be it from me to deny-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the vigilante’s cock pulsed and thick gooey globs of cum sprayed out from it, splattering Boba’s visor and even obscuring his vision on the left side. Blinking reflexively, Boba glanced up to see Ado’s face beet red, mouth hanging open in shock. Chuckling into his gag, Boba decided to cock his head in the most condescending manner he could, as if to ask: _“What? Finished already?”_

If it was possible, Ado’s cheeks got even redder and the vigilante glanced away, lamely releasing his still leaking dick and Boba’s head. “I-I guess I’m still recovering from yesterday…”

Smirking around his gag, Boba snorted once more, shaking his head a little to futilely try to slide the cum out of his vision and then, just to rub it in a little, (both figuratively and literally) he pressed his helmet against Ado’s cock and balls, smearing them with the vigilante’s own cum.

Ado grabbed Boba’s head and pulled him away, glaring at the rebellious bounty hunter. “Right, enough of that you little rascal. Get up.”

A little rougher than the vigilante probably intended, Ado helped Boba up to his feet and then pushed him over to the foot of the bed and shoved the bounty hunter onto the mattress on his back. Before Boba could react, Ado had climbed on the bed, snatched the condom from where it lay, and grabbed the bounty hunter’s throat. The grip was firm, but not constricting, Boba could breathe just fine. Nevertheless, Boba shivered at the sudden show of force, his cock twitching in arousal.

Ado leaned down until his face was inches away from the cool, cum-stained visage of Boba’s helm, eyes glinting mischievously. A smile on his lips, he said “I _was_ going to use my hand to help you cum while I fucked you, but now I think you’ll have to be content with just my dick in your ass. You better hope you finish before I do. Otherwise I’ll keep you like this for the rest of the day.”

Boba’s eyes widened. “Mmmmph…” his whimper was far more pitifully than he’d like to admit. It wasn’t out of fear, however, but arousal. He’d never actually considered being stuck in bondage for longer than a few hours; the idea of spending a whole day like this, restrained and at the vigilante’s mercy was… strangely enticing. Boba had a sneaking suspicion that Ado’s threat was an empty one, but some part of him that he hadn’t noticed before was actually _hoping_ that it wasn’t. It went against every instinct he had, but the longer he thought about it, the more the idea started to appeal to him, and that was actually scaring him quite a bit. _Psychoanalyze latter Fett_ , he chided himself as Ado released his throat and moved to sit between the bounty hunter’s legs, opening the condom as he did.

It wasn’t long until Ado had prepped Boba’s ass and lifted the bounty hunter’s hips into his lap, his now covered cock pressing against the captive man’s entrance. Still lying on his back, Boba tried to crane his neck to see what Ado was doing but thanks to the cum still on his visor slightly obscuring his vision, couldn’t quite get a good view. He could glimpse Ado’s face smiling down at him, one hand guiding his cock while the other held onto Boba’s leg, keeping him spread.

“I’m going in, Boba.” Ado said in warning before pressing his hips forward.

“Mmmmmmgh!”

Boba’s moan was muffled by the muzzle and his head fell back against the mattress as he felt the head of Ado’s cock push inside him. The sensation of being stretched open and filled with the vigilante’s dick made Boba swallow hungrily around his gag. Once enough of his length had entered the bounty hunter, Ado grabbed onto Boba’s other leg with his remaining hand, spreading the bounty hunter open even more. Before long Ado had hilted deep inside of him and, after giving Boba a moment to adjust, started to slowly rock his hips forwards and back, building up a steadily increasing rhythm.

As Ado’s tempo increased, Boba turned his head to the side and watched himself getting pounded in the mirror. He looked like a mess, cum was clinging to his visor, sweat dripped down the visible swaths of his skin and soaked into the undersuit of his armor. His cock bounced needily in the air with every one of the vigilante’s thrusts, desperate to be touched and already leaking pre at the head.

“You like that? You like watching yourself get fucked?” Ado asked suddenly, punctuating his sentence with a particularly hard thrust.

Boba felt heat blossom along his cheeks and grunted in affirmation. Look at him: the Great and Legendary Bounty Hunter Boba Fett, reduced to a quivering wreck by a lowly vigilante. A conflicting mix of shame and arousal bubbled up inside of him, and Boba turned his head away from the mirror, choosing instead to gaze up at the ceiling. Closing his eyes, Boba allowed himself to sink into the sensation of Ado’s pounding of his ass, trembling with every electrifying pass the vigilante’s cock made over his prostate.

It wouldn’t be long now, even untouched, Boba’s cock was leaking heavily. He could feel a familiar tension coiling in his gut with every thrust Ado made. Whimpering needily into his gag, Boba’s whole body twitched, his nerves on fire. Lightning raced through his veins, his heart pounded against his ribcage almost in tune with Ado’s tempo. Everything was rushing on towards that oh so delicious peak. Just a little more…

“Mmph mmph! Mmph mmph! Mmph mmph!” He pleaded into his gag. He was so close… so close… _so_ …

“Mmph! MMGH! _MMHMMHMMPH_!” Boba screamed into his gag, tremors radiated throughout his body and his cock, still untouched, throbbed. Streak after streak of cum spurted high into the air, the sticky white fluid eventually splashing down onto his helm and chest. With one final shudder, Boba went limp, breathing heavily.

“You should really see yourself right now.” Ado said with a breathless chuckle as he stopped his thrusts, clearly Boba wasn’t the only one exhausted. “You look like a mess.”

Boba believed him. He could imagine it, him lying on his back, ass still seated in Ado’s lap, impaled on the vigilante’s length, heaving chest slick with sweat and semen, cum splattered on his visor, pearls of beady white glistening on his pecs and abs, dribbling down to pool in the crevices of his muscles. He probably looked like he felt: utterly spent.

Boba shuddered as Ado gingerly pulled his cock from the bounty hunter’s ass. Too exhausted to do much else, Boba allowed the vigilante to clean him up. Ado first went to retrieve a towel, then wiped off all the cum from his chest, removed the bounty hunter’s helmet, and gave it a quick wipe off before moving to undo the muzzle. Once his mouth was no longer obstructed, Boba flexed his jaw, opening his eyes when Ado sat behind him and pushed the bounty hunter up into a sitting position to undo the latches on the gauntlets. Once his arms were free, Boba rolled his shoulders and placed the unused buzzer down on the mattress before leaning back against the vigilante, resting his head on Ado’s shoulder.

“I think we’ll need a rain check on that ‘seeing how many times I can make you cum’ thing.” Ado said, wrapping his arms around Boba and burying his nose into the bounty hunter’s now sweat-damp hair, eliciting another scowl from the other man, though he made no move to separate himself from the embrace. “I think you’re a little too spent for something like that.”

The prideful part of Boba wanted to insist that he was fine, that he could definitely handle more, but his practicality won out. “Yeah,” he said, his voice hoarse “What about you?”

Ado hesitated before responding “Oh, I um… I actually finished a while ago.”

Boba pushed himself off of the vigilante, turning to give him the smuggest look he could muster. “Oh _really_? What happened to that ‘Valderan stamina’ of yours?”

Ado blushed furiously and looked away “I _told_ you I was still recovering from yesterday…”

Boba smirked “Excuses, excuses.” Ado lightly smacked the bounty hunter’s arm, reminding Boba that he was still wear his sex armor. “So are you gonna help me out of the rest of this thing or do I have to handle it myself?”

Somehow, that actually made Ado’s face turn even _redder_. “Um… well I…”

Boba’s brows furrowed at the vigilante’s reaction “What’s with the sudden shy act?”

Ado let out a dry chuckle, glancing away “Nothing, nothing. Just… a cultural hang up from Valdera.” At Boba’s questioning look he clarified “Helping someone get in and out of your armor when assistance isn’t necessary is something you typically only do with…” he hesitated for a moment, violet eyes darkening “well, people you trust.”

Boba cocked an eyebrow “I just let you tie me up and fuck me, I invited you to live in my apartment, I _think_ I can trust you to help me remove some gear.” He shrugged “And besides, this isn’t even my actual armor, it’s kriffing fetish gear. You won’t be violating any cultural taboos here.”

Something in Ado’s expression told Boba he was missing some _very_ important information, but nevertheless the vigilante nodded in agreement. “Alright then. Hold out your arms for me.”

As Ado helped Boba out of his sex armor, a slightly uncomfortable silence fell between them. Boba had no idea what was going through Ado’s head at that moment, but he could tell something was bothering him. _If he has a problem he wants to talk about he’ll speak up about it,_ Boba reassured himself. _Don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong, Fett._

“So…” Ado said suddenly, breaking the silence. Meeting the vigilante’s gaze, the bounty hunter saw a twinkle in his violet eyes. “Apology accepted?”

Boba couldn’t help the knowing smirk that danced across his lips “Apology accepted.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fingers crossed that, because the next chapter is sexless (at least, I'm HOPING it is) I'll manage to get it done before my break ends. (Unlikely, but stranger things have happened.)
> 
> As always, any comments and feedback is appreciated.


	10. A Reckless Move

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back bitches! And I've got TWO chapters here for you!
> 
> I'm shooting for posting at least one chapter (preferably more) a week for a little while. I'll probably stop once I go back to school, but hopefully I'll manage to get through this part of the story and ya'll won't have to be left hanging for three months.

“I think I know why this place is called ‘the Crush’.” Ado said dryly as he shot a glance up at the imposing ceiling hanging low over the entire district that held up the overwhelming weight of countless skyscrapers above them. “I feel like I’m going to be flattened any minute now.”

Nox, the kaleesh bodyguard he’d rescued along with his employer a few weeks ago, snorted next to him. “You’re only noticing that _now_? Maybe they should call you Captain Obvious instead of Dark Poke.”

Ado glared at his companion beneath his visor “It’s _Night Edge_.”

Nox shrugged “Whatever you say, Star Queen.”

The vigilante closed his eyes and sighed “You know what? Just call me Ado.”

For a moment, Nox didn’t say anything, and Ado took some small satisfaction in that he actually rendered the kaleesh bodyguard speechless, even if it was just by revealing his name. Then, Nox said “That name’s even stupider.”

Ado bristled “It’s _my_ name!”

“Doesn’t change the fact that it’s stupid.”

Ado could feel an eyelid twitching. Forcing himself to not rise to the bait, Ado directed his attention towards the small, unassuming building he and Nox were watching from an alleyway. “This is the where they’re shipping all of the Deathsticks in, right?” Honestly, “Deathsticks”? Now _there’s_ a stupid name!

Nox nodded “Yep, I spent a week guarding this joint once.”

“What made you stop?” Ado asked.

“My first paycheck. That shit wasn’t even minimum wage!”

Ado rolled his eyes. Of course. “I didn’t think Nar Shaddaa _had_ a minimum wage.”

Nox chuckled “Well, I suppose technically it doesn’t, but a guard has to have _standards_ you know? So what’s the plan?”

Ado examined the entrance. The building was guarded, not exactly an uncommon sight in the Crush, but the lights were off, which indicated that there was nobody inside. The guards were a trandoshan and a human, both lightly armored and carrying blaster rifles. He could make a frontal assault, but that would likely draw too much attention for his liking. It would be best if he snuck into the building, but there were no other points of entry that he could detect.

Direct approach it is.

Ado pulled a small orb from a pouch on his waist. “Cover me.” He said to Nox before hurling the orb towards the guards.

The orb sailed through the air. To his credit, the trandoshan saw the orb and reacted quickly, firing upon in, startling his fellow guard. Unfortunately for them, Ado had been hoping they’d do that. The moment the shot struck the orb- or rather, the grenade- it ruptured, contents billowing out in a cloud of smoke that covered the street. Without a moment to lose, Ado sprinted out of the alley and closed the distance between him and the guards. His visor’s infrared vision allowed him to see through the smoke with easy. In an few moments, he was next to the guards, and quickly struck. Lashing out with his arm, Ado hit the back of the human guard’s neck with the side of his sheathed blade, knocking him unconscious before he had even realized Ado was there. Next was the trandoshan, and before the guard could react, Ado punched him in the side and then, as he doubled over, slammed him over the back of his head, bringing the trandoshan to his knees. One more kick to the side of his head was all that it took to finish him off.

As the smoke cleared, Ado gestured for Nox to join him across the street. Ado could clearly see that beneath his skull mask, the kaleesh was gaping at him in disbelief. “…What did you need me to cover you _from_ , exactly? You took those guys out before I could even blink!”

Ado rolled his eyes beneath his visor “It helps to be cautious, now hurry up and hide these two. I’m heading inside.”

Nox blinked and glared at him. “I’m basically just here to clean up aren’t I?”

Ado couldn’t help the smirk on his lips beneath his helmet “Pretty much.”

“ _Lovely_.”

Ado quickly spliced the door open as Nox moved the unconscious guards out of sight. Stepping inside, Ado examined the interior of the building. At the moment he was in a simple lobby, a counter for reception tucked into one corner and past that another door. It wasn’t much to look at, and there was no one present at the moment. Still, there could be alarms or traps that he didn’t know about. Warily, Ado crossed the room and examined the other door. Sure enough, he found an alarm hidden in the doorway. It was easy enough to disable however, and as Nox rejoined him, Ado opened the door and stepped into the room beyond.

“I think we have the right place.” Nox noted dryly.

Inside, the room was filled with countless boxes and crates that, upon further inspection, contained Deathsticks. Ado was actually surprised by how many there were. Dr. Dand had asked him to put a stop to Forkub’s Deathstick dealers, as there were a growing number of overdoses occurring throughout the district. He made his way over to a nearby terminal, downloading the shipping logs contained within, with any luck they could use these to trace the Deathsticks back to where they were being manufactured. Ado had been present when one of those overdose cases had been brought to the clinic. The young man was frothing at the mouth, eyes wide and pupils dilated. His entire body had been racked with tremors, and Dand had needed to strap him down while he flushed the chemicals out of the young man’s body.

Finished, Ado turned to Nox. “Do you have the charges?”

The kaleesh grinned savagely beneath his skull mask and held up the sack he’d been carrying this whole time. “Right here!”

It didn’t take long for them to plant the explosives throughout the building. Once they were clear they’d blow this whole place sky-high. Ado could tell Nox was particularly looking forward to that part, the kaleesh was practically giddy as they left the building.

“This explosion’s gonna be great!” Nox said, “And I bet all the chemicals in those Deathsticks are going to make for some _spectacular_ fireworks!”

Ado rolled his eyes “Yes, yes, and I’m sure the big boom will be _very_ amusing.”

Nox snorted “You clearly don’t have an appreciation for the fine art of explosions, Crystal Dancer.”

Ado sighed “You know, if you’re gonna get the name wrong, you could at least stay _thematically_ similar to- WATCH OUT!”

Grabbing Nox by the arm, Ado pulled his companion back into the building as a series of blaster shots raced through the air towards the kaleesh’s chest. Shielding Nox with his own body, Ado winced as he felt one of the shots strike his shoulder just before he could get behind cover. The trandoshan guard had woken up and ambushed them. If Ado hadn’t spotted him at the last moment, Nox would have had a few new holes in his chest.

Nox’s eyes were wide as he looked at Ado’s wound. “Shit! Are you alright?!”

“I’ll live.” Ado grunted. The shot had hit his blade-arm, right between two armor plates, burning through the mesh and searing his skin. He could still feel his arm, but every slight movement sent intense pain jolting through his shoulder.

Nox swore and took a quick look outside, ducking back just before the trandoshan could take his head off with another shot. “I thought I’d restrained that guy! Stupid cheap-ass stun-cuffs!” Looking at Ado he said “Right, leave him to me.”

Shooting Ado a wink, Nox readied his blaster rifle and took a rolling dive out from behind the doorway. A few shot got close to the kaleesh, but the trandoshan clearly hadn’t been expecting for Nox just dive out of cover. Ado watched as Nox rolled to a knee and raised his rifle, firing off a burst of three shots just as the trandoshan’s last laser sailed past his head. There was a heavy _thud_ and Nox got to his feet, returning to Ado’s side.

“He’s dead. Got him with a headshot.” Nox’s eyes flicked towards Ado’s wound “We should get you back to Dand. He’ll patch you up.”

Ado nodded “Right. Let’s move before the other guard wakes up.”

They didn’t stick around to watch the building explode. Ado and Nox made their way back to Dand’s clinic as quickly as possible. Once there, the ithorian tutted and had Ado remove his armor. The doctor quickly examined Ado’s wound, cleaning and bandaging it with a bacta salve, finishing by putting Ado’s arm in a sling.

“You’ll need to rest it for a few days otherwise the muscle won’t heal properly.” Dand said.

Ado nodded, “Alright, no vigilante-ing for a little while.”

“You’ve got somewhere safe to stay right?” Nox said suddenly, “If you don’t I’m sure we could…”

Ado shook his head “I’m fine, I’ve got somewhere to stay.” Nox actually seemed a little disappointed by that.

Once he’d gathered up his things, Ado made to leave the clinic when he felt a hand on his unwounded shoulder stop him. “Hey, I… um…” Ado turned to see Nox standing behind him, looking awfully uncomfortable beneath his mask “I… I’m not really good at this but… thanks. For pulling me back when you did.” The kaleesh shrugged “I probably would have gotten killed on the spot if you hadn’t.” he glanced away “I know you didn’t have to-”

“What are you talking about?” Ado interrupted, confused. “Of _course_ I had to. I wasn’t just gonna’ let you get shot!”

For a moment, Nox just stood there, staring at Ado in disbelief. Finally, he said “You’re for real aren’t you? You really are doing all of this just to help people.”

Ado cocked an eyebrow “Is that so hard to believe?”

Nox chuckled and shook his head “I guess not. I’m more amazed that someone like you has lasted on this shithole moon for as long as you have.”

Ado shrugged and grinned “What can I say, I’m a lucky guy.”

Nox smiled back beneath his mask “Yeah, I guess so.” He gave the vigilante’s shoulder a gentle squeeze “Thanks again… Ado.”

…

“What the _fuck_ happened to you?!”

Boba had just arrived back in his apartment to find Ado sitting at the table in the kitchen, trying to stitch together a hole in his undersuit with only one hand, the other being stuck in a sling. Looking over his shoulder at him, the vigilante flashed Boba a smile “Oh hey, you’re back already? I thought you said you wouldn’t be around for a few months.”

Boba _had_ said that, but only because he’d been meaning to stay away from Nar Shaddaa for a while so Jabba wouldn’t start getting suspicious. He hadn’t expected to suddenly find himself plagued by dark thoughts about what sort of trouble Ado could be getting up to, and before he’d even realized it, he’d plotted a course back to Nar Shaddaa. Now, it looked like he had been right to worry. “Answer the question, dammit!”

Ado blinked, clearly caught off guard by Boba’s angry tone. “I just got clipped by a blaster is all, its honestly nothing to worry about. I’m taking it easy for a few days until the wound heal.”

Boba gestured to the hole in Ado’s undersuit “That doesn’t looked _clipped_ to me.”

Ado glanced over at the body glove “It just hit me in an unprotected area, really it’s nothing to worry about- whoa!” Ado nearly jumped out of his seat when he turned back around to see Boba had closed the distance between them and was now looming over him.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with that new district you’ve been _crusading_ in would it?” Boba growled out, visor glinting dangerously in the kitchen lights.

Boba didn’t actually _know_ where the new district Ado had chosen to “clean up” _was_. Neither the vigilante, nor Dona had deigned to tell him about the location of this mystery district, despite his prodding. It was immensely ( ~~worrying~~ ) _frustrating_ , but he had stopped asking after the last time he’d pestered Dona and she had made certain… _insinuations_ that had left Boba ( ~~flustered~~ ) _angry_. Now, he was starting to wish he’d pushed more.

Ado blinked “Um… well yeah. Of course it does.” He cocked an eyebrow “You _are_ aware that being a vigilante is _dangerous_ right? This is hardly the first time something like this has happened.” He turned back towards his work on the undersuit “Besides, why do you care? It’s never bothered you before how dangerous it is. You really don’t need to worry, I’m fine.”

 _That_ managed to cool Boba’s temper substantially. Why _did_ he care? He knew perfectly well that Ado’s vigilantism was dangerous and that it was inevitable that he’d get hurt at some point. He _shouldn’t_ be bothered by this, so why was he? Scowling, Boba turned on his heel and marched out of the kitchen and back towards the door. Coming here had been a complete waste of time. Ado could take care of himself just fine. He didn’t need Boba coddling him.

And yet… something about Ado’s words had made Boba’s chest ache.

…

Dona was sat at her terminal searching through the dark crevices of the holo-net to find some information for a client when an alert popped up on the screen. One of the numerous matters she kept close tabs on had had an update recently. Brows furrowing, Dona opened the alert and was brought to the local bounty board. Her eyes widened as she noticed that the price of a particular bounty she’d been keeping track of had just skyrocketed.

**WANTED! DEAD OR ALIVE: NIGHT EDGE**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're now moving into plot central, so there is going to be significantly less smut from here on out. Sorry about that.


	11. A Grave Mistake

Forkub the Hutt stared at the bounty hunter known only as “Chalk” standing before him. She was a tall, lean humanoid with ivory white skin and long, slender fingers. She wore a pair of tight black trousers held up by a rancor-skin belt with a blaster pistol and hunting knife strapped to it, and a sleeveless shirt the color of rust. Her face was hidden behind a black full-head helmet with two glowing orange eyes, and she wore light armor pads on her shoulders, elbows, and knees. Slung over her shoulder was a large sniper rifle of a make Forkub was unfamiliar with.

Chalk cocked her head to the side. “And you want him _alive_?”

“Yes,” Forkub growled out, his tail twitching in agitation. “I believe he has… associates helping him. I want him to tell us who and where they are.”

“The bounty says dead or alive.” She raised her hand, rubbing her thumb and index finger together “If you want to guarantee his survival you’re gonna have to pay a little _extra_.”

Forkub nodded, gesturing for a rodian grunt to approach her with an ornately carved box. “I believe this shall suffice.”

The rodian opened the box and Chalk looked inside. Although he couldn’t see her face, Forkub could tell he’d won the bounty hunter over. “Hm… not bad.”

The rodian shut the box and retreated as Forkub said “Do we have a deal?”

Forkub would have bet anything that Chalk was grinning beneath her helmet. “We do indeed.”

…

Dona watched as Ado paced back and forth in the lounge of Boba’s apartment, saying “…And then he just stomped off. I haven’t seen him since.” He paused for a moment before adding guiltily. “I think I hurt his feelings…”

Dona snorted “Well there’s a surprise, Boba _actually_ has feelings. Who would have guessed?” She shook her head. “I don’t see what you want me to do about it.”

Ado sighed and sat down on the couch. “It’s been over a week and he hasn’t responded to any of my messages.” He looked up at her, violet eyes pleading “Could you try talking to him? Maybe he’ll listen to you.”

Dona hesitated for a moment. She knew how stubborn Fett could be, if he didn’t want to talk to Ado then there was nothing she could say to change his mind. But she could tell that Ado was feeling genuinely remorseful for how dismissively he’d treated Boba’s concerns, and she _did_ want to help… “I’ll try.” She conceded.

Ado gave her a small smile “Thanks.” After a moment he asked “Were you able to trace the Deathstick shipments back to the suppliers?”

Dona felt worry squirm in her gut “Well… yes… but-”

“Great!” Ado said getting up and approaching her. “Where do I need to go?”

Dona sighed and handed him the datapad she’d brought with her. As he scanned it, Dona felt her unease grow. The spike in Night Edge’s bounty had been bothering her ever since she saw it, but she wasn’t quite sure how to broach the topic. Biting her lip, Dona blurted out “I think you should lie low for a while.”

Ado looked up from the datapad, face filled with confusion. “Huh? Why?”

Dona sighed and took the datapad from him, switching over to the notice about his bounty. “The price on your head just skyrocketed a few days ago, and it says that all potential hunters should speak to Forkub for more information.”

Ado blinked, staring down at the datapad “Huh.”

Dona felt her anger rumbling just beneath the surface. “That’s _it_? ‘Huh’? No ‘okay, I’ll wait until the heat cools off’ or ‘oh wow, I didn’t realize I was attracting so much attention, thanks for warning me’! Just, ‘huh’?!”

Ado looked up at her and shook his head “I’m not going to let myself be intimidated by this. So what if someone else wants me dead, that’s hardly new for me. I’ve dealt with bounty hunters before.” His eyes twinkled “If you’ll recall, the last one went pretty well actually.”

Dona rolled her eyes “This isn’t like what happened with Traven you _idiot_! There’s no disastrous threat that needs to be stopped. Nobody is gonna be willing to let you go because your cause is ‘just’ this time!”

Infuriatingly, Ado shrugged “I know that, but I can take care of myself. I’ll be fine.”

Dona deflated “You really are going to get yourself killed. You have to realize that.”

Ado flashed a wry smile “I told you, people like me don’t get happy endings.” And with that he moved towards his room “I need to get ready. Thanks again for the info Dona.”

Sighing, Dona turned away and walked towards the door, muttering under her breath “Only because you won’t even _try_ to find one.”

…

Ado dropped from the shadows outside of Dand’s clinic. Nox, to his credit, wasn’t even startled. He merely hefted his blaster rifle and flashed a grin beneath his mask. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the friendly neighborhood hero.” After a moment, he added more seriously “How’s your shoulder doing?”

Ado rolled his formally wounded shoulder and said cheerfully “All healed up. Has there been any trouble while I’ve been away?”

Nox shook his head “Some of Forkub’s goons came by again, but I scared them off. It’s been pretty quiet in all honesty. Are we going to go and blow up those Deathstick suppliers now?”

Ado hesitated. Despite his nonchalance about it, Dona’s warning _had_ put him on edge. “You shouldn’t come with me.” he said after a moment “The bounty on my head just skyrocketed. Forkub knows I’m the one responsible for the destroyed Deathsticks.” Glancing away, Ado added “I don’t want you to get caught up in that.”

Nox looked puzzled “Yeah? And who’s going to watch your back if I won’t?”

“This mission is simple. I’ll be fine.” Ado insisted.

“You don’t sound too sure about that.” Nox pointed out.

Ado sighed “I’m not,” he admitted “But I’ll be careful. I won’t be able to help anyone if I’m dead after all.”

Nox clearly wasn’t completely convinced, but relented “Fine, just make sure to come back in one piece.”

Ado smirked beneath his visor “I make no promises.”

Nox rolled his eyes, “ _Right_ …, I guess I’ll have the doc on standby then.” Ado took that as his cue to leave. Bidding the kaleesh guard farewell, Ado had almost gotten out of earshot when he heard Nox mutter under his breath. “Good luck, Ado…”

…

The supplier of Forkub’s Deathsticks was located in a completely different district found near the bottom of the city called the Underworks. It took Ado several hours to fly there on his speeder, during which he reviewed what he knew about where the Deathsticks were being made. It was an old, abandoned factory building, squished at the bottom of one of the Vertical City’s many massive skyscrapers. Ado wasn’t sure what to expect when he got there, but he was ready for the worst. However, when he finally arrived, there curiously seemed to be nobody inside, and for a moment Ado wondered if he’d gone to the wrong place. Deciding to check inside anyways, Ado slipped through an open window.

What he found inside confirmed that he actually did, indeed, have the right building. Through the darkness, Ado could see that constructed into the factory’s old assembly line was what he presumed to be the necessary instruments for creating Deathsticks. There were numerous chemical vats, beakers, and other lab equipment placed throughout. From what Dr. Dand had told him, Deathsticks were made from a chemical called Ixetal cilona, found in some mushroom on a world Ado had never heard of, concentrated into either a liquid or solid form. Apparently, other chemicals were also frequently added to enhance the affects, with this particular brand adding aphrodisiacs.

Currently the entire operation was inactive, likely due to the lack of any personnel present to oversee it. That was fine by Ado, it meant he wouldn’t have any interruptions while he destroyed everything. True, Forkub could just switch to a different supplier, but the number of Deathsticks on the streets would still be lowered for a few weeks, giving Dand and the other doctors of the Crush the opportunity to start rehabilitating the addicts.

Approaching the equipment, Ado took out an explosive charge and placed it on one of the machines. Ado was almost finished when he heard a barely perceptible click. Acting purely on instinct, Ado rolled to the side, just barely avoiding the dart that had been flying straight towards his neck. Getting up, Ado activated his visor’s infrared vision and quickly scanned the factory. He was unable to find any heat signatures, which meant his opponent had something to hide themselves with. Extending his blade, Ado switched his visor to night vision. He still couldn’t see who’d attacked him. Taking a deep breath, Ado stood still and listened.

 _Click_.

Reacting instantly, Ado dodged out of the way of the dart, noting where it had come from: the rafters to his left. Not wasting a moment, Ado rushed towards his adversary. Using the lab equipment as a staging point, Ado quickly jumped up into the rafters. Spying a silhouette rushing along the steel beams, Ado gave chase. The figure (a woman, judging from her build) turned and fired another dart from a rifle at Ado, but the vigilante merely deflected it with his blade. Leaping between the beams, Ado closed the distance between himself and his adversary.

As he got near the figure, only a single beam away from her, she turned and drew a long, curved, knife and crouched low on the beam. Leaping onto the same beam as his opponent, Ado lashed out with his blade. The hunter was fast, quickly deflecting Ado’s attack with her knife and lashing out with a kick to Ado’s side. Stumbling back, Ado took a moment to regain his balance, and launched onto the offense once more. Striking repeatedly, Ado sliced with his blade, yet his opponent was always one step ahead of him, always managing to get out of the way just in time.

They danced back and forth across the beam, neither one managing to land a sure hit. Belatedly, Ado realized that he’d made a mistake confronting his opponent on the rafters. He had no room to maneuver on the beams, so his only angle of attack was a frontal assault, something his fighting style simply wasn’t suited for. Snarling angrily as he got another kick in the stomach, Ado decided to switch approaches. Instead of attacking again, he simply plowed himself into his enemy, knocking the both of them off the rafters and plunging to the ground below. His adversary managed to disentangle herself from Ado during the fall and kicked him away. They both landed on their feet, and instantly charged one another once more. Now that he was on the floor, Ado had far more room to maneuver, and the tide of the battle turned. Using the equipment around them to his advantage, Ado started to jump, flip, and dance over and around his opponent multiple times, striking at her repeatedly.

This was how he’d been taught to fight, utilizing the environment to its fullest to outmaneuver his enemy. Due to its dense jungles and wetlands, wars on Valdera were always more guerilla combat than direct confrontations. Stealth, speed, and the full utilization of one’s environment to outmaneuver their enemy. That was how Valderan’s fought.

Not a single one of his enemy’s attacks managed to hit him, but to his satisfaction, Ado managed to nick his adversary with his blade a few times, despite her agility. She couldn’t beat him at close range, and it looked like his opponent realized this, she was repeatedly trying to put some distance between them, but Ado wasn’t giving her a centimeter of breathing room. Ducking under a kick at his head, Ado slashed upwards with his blade, intending to cut his enemy’s leg and hamper her movement. To his surprise however, the hunter twisted away at the last minute, slicing at him with her knife and managing to nick his arm, cutting through a gap between the plates, through the mesh, and slightly biting into his skin. Unfazed by the slight injury and deciding to get her while she was still off-balance, Ado jumped up and off of a nearby crate, flipping over his opponent’s head, lashing at her as he passed by, managing to knock the knife from her hand.

As he landed behind his enemy, Ado prepared to resume his assault when suddenly, to his astonishment, his balance faltered and he slipped, crashing into a nearby table, knocking it over and spilling lab equipment onto the floor. Ado blinked, a fog gradually filling his skull. A small part of him realized that the knife must have had some sort of poison on it, and the small cut he’d just received was enough for it to affect him. He tried to stand, but his limbs were suddenly numb and he collapsed to the floor once again.

“So…” Ado heard the hunter say as his mind grew more and more cloudy “This is the infamous… ‘Night Edge’ huh? I’m not impressed.”

She loomed over his prone form, a dark silhouette of death, and as consciousness left him, the last thing Ado saw were hands with long fingers and chalk-white skin…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments are appreciated.


	12. A Dire Circumstance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one chapter this week. Sorry.

Dona paced back and forth inside the lounge of Boba’s apartment. She’d been worried about Ado after she’d left and had decided to return to the apartment and wait for him. She’d been there all night, Ado was supposed to have returned hours ago and Dona was getting more and more anxious with each passing second. She _knew_ she should have stopped him, she’d had a bad feeling about this ever since she saw the increase in Ado’s bounty.

Dona checked the time again and sighed. Maybe he was staying at the clinic run by that ithorian he’d told her about. What was his name again? Dand or something like that? Dona pulled up the number Ado had given her for the clinic on her com and called it.

For a moment, no one answered, then Dona heard a click and an elderly voice say over the line “Hello? This is Dr. Dand’s clinic. Is there something I can help you with?”

“Hi there.” Dona forced her voice to remain casual “My name’s Dona. I was wondering if perhaps a man who goes by the name ‘Night Edge’ was at your clinic at the moment.”

For a moment, the line was silent, then the doctor said “No, I’m afraid I am unfamiliar with this ‘Night Edge’. Perhaps you have the wrong number?”

Dona frowned. The ithorian was lying, likely to protect Ado. “I see, are you _sure_ you aren’t familiar with him?”

“Quite sure ma’am.” Dand said a little too quickly. “Now, if there isn’t anything else, I really must-”

 “Actually there is.” Dona interrupted. Her mind raced, there had to be something she could say that could convince the old ithorian she wasn’t an enemy. She remembered that there was someone else who worked at the clinic Ado had mentioned: a kaleesh bodyguard. “Would you mind putting Nox on the line? I’d like to speak with him.”

There was a long silence before Dand said. “Yes I’ll… I’ll go get him.”

Dona waited as the ithorian retrieved the kaleesh. A few minutes later, a gruff voice said over the com “What do you want?”

Dona smiled “Hi, I’m Dona, I’m a friend of Night Edge’s. Perhaps he’s mentioned me?

Nox didn’t respond right away “Maybe… how do I know you are who you say you are?”

Dona sighed, typical. “Ask me a question that only someone who knew Night Edge would know.”

Nox seemed to mull this over for a moment. “What’s his first name?”

“Ado.” Dona said instantly.

Nox snorted “Correct. Now what do you want?”

Dona blinked, she hadn’t expected it to be that easy. “Thank you, is he there?”

Nox hesitated before responding “No… he went off to do the mission alone and hasn’t come back here. I assume he’s probably at wherever it is he hides out when not vigilante-ing.”

Dona’s brows furrowed “He’s not. I’m at his apartment right now.”

“He has an _apartment_?!” Nox said incredulously.

Dona pinched the bridge of her nose “That’s not important right now. When did he leave?”

“About fourteen hours ago.” Nox said “I offered to go with him but he said the price on his head just got raised and that he didn’t want to put me in danger.”

 _So you_ did _listen to me,_ Dona mused. _You just decided to focus on_ other’s _safety and not your own. Idiot._ The twi’lek sighed “Right, thanks for telling me.”

She was about to hang up when Nox asked, concern in his voice “Ado’s in trouble isn’t he?”

Dona hesitated for a moment “I… I’m not sure. I’m going to go to the warehouse where the Deathsticks are being manufactured and find out.”

“I’ll come with you.” Nox said quickly.

Dona cocked an eyebrow, she hadn’t been expecting that. “Why?”

Nox huffed into the com “Ado’s… he’s an idiot, but he’s also a good guy… I haven’t met someone like him on this damn moon in too long. I just… I want to make sure he’s alright.”

Dona couldn’t help the small smile on her lips. She couldn’t agree more. “Alright, I’ll swing by the clinic and pick you up in a minute.”

“Right.” Nox said “I’ll be the big kaleesh out front.”

Dona nodded “See you then.”

With that Dona ended the call and, making sure she had her blaster pistol strapped to her hip, stomped out of the apartment towards where she’d parked her speeder. It took less than an hour to fly down to the Crush, where sure enough, a large, intimidating kaleesh wearing body armor and carrying a hefty blaster rifle in his arms stood outside Dand’s clinic.

As Dand climbed into the passenger side of the speeder, he shot Dona a wary look “So _you’re_ the infamous Dona” he snorted “I thought you info brokers were supposed to be a lot more… classy-looking.”

Dona rolled her eyes as she took off once more and merged into the traffic. “Haven’t heard that one before.”

As they sped between the sky lanes, ducking in and out of the morning traffic, Nox asked “Do you really think Ado’s in trouble?”

Dona glared at a particularly slow driver in front of them before deciding to simply fly under him. “I don’t know. But if he isn’t, then I’m smacking him upside the head for worrying me.”

When they finally reached the warehouse in the Underworks, Dona instantly knew that something was wrong. Ado’s speeder was still tucked away in an alleyway, and there were four guards posted outside the warehouse: a rodian female, a gamorrean male, a zabrak male, and a human female. Dona drove past the building, not wanting to draw too much attention, and parked the speeder around a nearby corner.

Nox climbed out of the speeder and readied his rifle. “This _is_ the right place right?”

Dona nodded “I’m sure of it.” She glanced around the corner. The guards weren’t looking in their direction, they likely had simply dismissed the speeder as nothing significant.

“Do you think Ado’s in there?” Nox asked, joining her.

Dona shook her head “I doubt it. If he was captured, then he probably was taken directly to Forkub.” She hesitated before adding “And if he was killed…”

“They still would have taken him to Forkub.” Nox said. At Dona’s questioning look he added “I’ve heard… stories… about what Forkub does to the bodies of his enemies.” He grimaced “It’s not pleasant.”

Dona pursed her lips, she didn’t like the sound of that. “Well then, we’ll have to hope he was captured.” She looked back towards the warehouse “But regardless, we need to get in there. If someone came after Ado, I bet there was a fight. If we examine the scene, we might be able to determine what happened.”

“Well then,” Nox said, readying his rifle “Let’s get in there shall we?”

Dona had to grab the kaleesh’s shoulder to stop him from simply turning the corner and blasting at the guards. “ _Hold_ it there big guy. We’re outnumbered here, let’s be smart about this.”

Nox huffed, but complied, stepping back behind the corner to look down at the blue twi’lek. “Fine, what’s your idea?”

Dona smirked and looked towards the large trunk of her speeder. “I have a distraction…”

…

“GREETINGS, MASTERS!” A deep, pleasant voice called out over the street. “HOW MIGHT I PLEASURE YOU TODAY?” The four guards in front of the warehouse simultaneously turned to see perhaps one of the strangest sights on Nar Shaddaa: a large sex-droid cheerfully running towards them, it’s large robotic dick swinging freely in the air. The droid stopped in front of the guards, arms spread wide. “Come now, masters, there is no need to be shy! I can easily pleasure all of you at the same time!”

Watching from the corner, Nox was gaping in disbelief. “ _Why_ do you have a sex-bot in your trunk?”

From her spot next to him, Dona shrugged “He’s a personal project Ado’s been helping me with. I’ve been trying to reprogram him.”

“Huh,” Nox said “I guess you haven’t had much success there, then?”

Dona merely smirked.

The gamorrean guard blinked, nonchalantly raised his rifle, and fired a shot straight into Dees’ chassis. Instantly, the droid toppled backwards, hitting the ground hard and lay still.

The rodian guard toed Dees’ unmoving foot. “What was _that_ about?”

The gamorrean guard shrugged “Eh, I don’t know. But its dead now.”

“I swear, this moon gets more fucked up every day.” The zabrak muttered.

Around the corner, Nox snorted “I hope you have a plan B. That ‘distraction’ didn’t last very long.”

Dona shushed him “Wait for it…”

Three of the guards went back to watching the street, but the human stepped closer, leaning over Dees’ prone form to examine him. “I wonder how much this thing would sell for- Grghk!” She was cut off as Dees’ hand suddenly shot up and grabbed her by the throat.

Standing up, Dees’ once white eyes were now glowing a sinister red. “I see the masters feel like being _naughty_!” His once pleasant voice was now much harsher as he said “ **BEGINNING PUNISHMENT**.”

Dees hurled the human guard into the zabrak before either of them had time to react. The rodian shrieked and raised her rifle, only to be immediately uppercut by Dees and fall to the ground unconscious. The gamorrean snarled and was about to fire again when Dees grabbed the barrel of his blaster rifle and yanked it out of his hands, swiftly smashing it over the pig’s head.

And like that, it was over, all four of the guards lay on the ground unconscious. Still smirking, Dona stepped out from around the corner and made her way over to the entrance, a stunned Nox trailing behind her.

Sensing her presence, Dees turned around, his red eyes fading back to white. “Was that satisfactory, Lady Dona?” he asked cheerfully.

“It most certainly was.” The blue twi’lek said “Nice work, Dees. Keep watch out here”

The droid bowed “It is my privilege to be of service.”

Dona and Nox made their way over to the warehouse door. It was locked, but a quick hack from Dona fixed that problem and it slid open. The moment she stepped inside, Dona knew something had happened. There were clear signs of a fight, despite efforts to clean things up. There were still shards from broken beakers littering the ground, at least one table looked as if it had been overturned and then later righted. A duros was currently mopping up some spilled fluid, muttering angrily to herself with her back turned to them.

The duros hadn’t noticed Dona and Nox yet, so giving the kaleesh a nod, Dona cleared her throat. “Hello there!”

The duros turned around, eyes going wide upon seeing Dona and Nox standing there armed, and she instantly screamed, raising her hand in front of her as if to protect herself. “AH! No! Please! I’ll clean it up faster! I promise!”

Dona cocked an eyebrow and Nox growled out “We don’t work for Forkub you imbecile.”

“Oh.” The duros said, then she instantly screamed even louder than before and ducked behind a table. “AIIIIIIEEEEEE! Take whatever you want! Just please don’t hurt me!”

Dona rolled her eyes “We’re not here for the drugs, we just want to ask some questions.”

Nox stomped forward and angrily snarled “What happened to Night Edge?”

The duros shrieked and cowered behind the table “I don’t know! I don’t know! Leave me alone!”

Nox growled and picked up the table, tossing it aside, and grabbed the terrified duros by her collar, lifting her up into the air. “Don’t give me that bullshit! What did you fucks do to-” he stopped. “She fainted. _Lovely_.” He unceremoniously dropped the duros to the ground and kicked over a nearby stool.

Dona sighed, rubbing her temples “Throwing a fit isn’t going to help. Let’s look around and see if we can find any clues.”

Nox grunted and, giving the unconscious duros a kick for good measure, walked off to search the room. Dona shook her head and examined the scene. She found a remote charge of the same make Ado usually used carelessly dumped into a waste bin, which told her that the vigilante had likely made it inside. Looking around, Dona caught sight of something in the corner of her eye, a small dart that had rolled against one of the crates. Frowning, Dona reached down to pick up the dart and inspected it. The tip had been broken, probably from striking something hard. Pulling her goggles over her eyes, Dona tapped a button on the side of the goggles’ frame, and a holographic overlay formed over the lenses. Dona waited patiently as the goggles scanned the dart, frowning as she read the results. There was a potent paralytic toxin within the dart that she recognized; Boba had used it a couple of times when he wanted to capture a bounty alive. Which meant…

“I can’t find any blood.” Nox said suddenly, coming up behind her. “What do you have there?”

Lifting her goggles back up, Dona looked over her shoulder at Nox, holding up the dart for him to see. “A dart filled with a paralytic toxin. They took him alive.”

Nox’s brows furrowed beneath his skull-mask “Why would they do that?”

Dona looked away, a heavy weight burrowing into the pit of her stomach “I… I’m not sure… but if I had to guess I’d say they wanted to interrogate him.”

After a moment, Nox said gravely “I’ve heard… _stories_ about what Forkub likes to do to his enemies…” he growled “It isn’t pleasant. We need to rescue him.”

Dona nodded and turned around, looking Nox in the eyes as she said “I think I know someone who can help.”

…

Boba scowled beneath his helmet as he watched another pathetic lowlife beg on his knees before Jabba in the Hutt’s antechamber. Normally he’d find this at least somewhat entertaining: if Jabba was feeling merciful he might only scar the scum, if he wasn’t then the rancor would be getting an early dinner. Now, however, all he could feel was a rotting bitterness in his gut. Hearing Jabba’s sinister laugh, Boba turned away and started to walk from the room. He recognized that laugh, Jabba wasn’t feeling very merciful today. Boba felt sick to his stomach as he heard the distant screams of the poor soul’s grisly fate. He hadn’t been bothered by Jabba’s sadism in so long, so why did it suddenly make him want to vomit?

Shaking his head, Boba walked through the halls of the palace, growling at anyone who dared to approach him. It was all that _stupid_ vigilante’s fault. Boba wasn’t angry. He _wasn’t_. At least, not at Ado anyways. He was right, Boba _shouldn’t_ care if Ado got himself killed in his stupid crusade. In fact, Boba had even said so himself on multiple occasions. So why was he suddenly getting attached?

 _You’re not “suddenly” getting attached._ The teasing voice of Dona echoed through his skull. _You’ve_ been _attached for quite some time. You just didn’t want to acknowledge it_.

Boba stopped in his tracks and punched the nearby wall, startling a passing gamorrean guard. He was supposed to be better than this. Getting attached in his line of work got you killed… or worse. Boba Fett wasn’t supposed to have these vulnerabilities. He was supposed to be _better_ than this! These… feelings were nothing but a weakness.

…Weren’t they?

_You didn’t always think that._

That hadn’t been Dona’s voice in his head. It had been one he hadn’t heard in over two decades. The voice of a little boy who grew up on a rainy world with only a stern father, cold, detached aliens, and occasionally a sharp-tongued changeling for company. Boba felt memories start to well up and forced them down. He couldn’t let himself be vulnerable. Not here, not _anywhere_.

Sighing, Boba was about to resume walking when he heard a familiar voice say behind him “You seem to be in a bad mood, Fett.”

Boba snarled and turned around “What do you want Fortuna? Shouldn’t you be hissing in Jabba’s ear?”

Bib Fortuna seemed nonplussed by Boba’s venom “I noticed you leave the audience chamber rather abruptly. Usually you enjoy watching the day’s filth groveling before His Excellency.” He cocked his head to the side, a snake-like smile on his lips “In fact, you’ve been particularly grumpy ever since you returned from… I believe it was _Nar Shaddaa_ , yes?” His eyes glinted predatorily “Did something, _happen_?”

Boba’s eyes narrowed. The vile serpent was probing, trying to get something out of him. Unfortunately for Fortuna, he wasn’t nearly as smart as he thought he was and Boba could clearly see the question for what it really was. Before he could tell Fortuna to go fuck himself, the HUD of Boba’s helmet pinged, showing he had an incoming communication waiting for him on his ship. “As much as I’d _love_ to chat,” Boba said with as much sarcasm as he could muster (which is quite a lot, he might add) “I’ve got an important call waiting for me. If you’ll excuse me.”

Fortuna bowed his head, weaselly smile still on his lips “Of course, bounty hunter.”

Boba watched Jabba’s advisor head back towards the antechamber before he turned around and made his way to the hanger and the _Slave I_. Sure enough, there was a call from Dona waiting for him. Climbing into the pilot’s chair, Boba pressed the button answer and was instantly greeted with Dona’s blue face on the screen.

“Finally!” Dona said, worry creasing her brow.

Boba snorted, “What, did you really miss me that mu-”

“Shut up and listen.” Dona snapped, catching Boba off guard. Taking a breath to calm herself, Dona looked through the visor of Boba’s helmet into his eyes as she said. “Ado’s been captured.”

Boba felt his blood freeze in his veins before he remembered what Ado had said to him the last time he was on Nar Shaddaa. Forcing himself to nonchalance, Boba said “Why should I care?”

Dona blinked at him in disbelief and after a moment gave Boba a glare so strong it took all of his willpower not to flinch. “Don’t pull this _shit_ right now, Fett. Get your ass _over here_. This is serious,” Dona’s expression fell as she whispered “I don’t know how long he has…”

Boba scowled, despite the impeding dread clutching his chest. It was _Ado’s_ problem, not his. He shouldn’t care about this. He _didn’t_ care. He _didn’t_ … “I’ll be right there.” He said as he started the process of turning the _Slave I’s_ engines on.

 _Dammit_.

…

Ado’s eyes fluttered open and he groaned. His head felt like it was splitting open. Trying to clear his mind, Ado took in his surroundings. He was in a small, poorly lit room with only a single light placed right above him. He was strapped to a chair, and his armor was gone, leaving Ado completely naked except for his briefs. He could see a holo-camera hovering near the wall, its lens fixated on him, and Ado decided to flash whoever was watching a defiant little smirk.

Roughly a minute passed before a gravelly voice echoed through the room, no doubt coming from concealed intercoms. “Greetings, ‘Night Edge’, are you _comfortable_?”

Ado snorted “Oh, I’ve had better accommodations. You’ll need to work harder if you want a good review on the holonet.”

The voice, Forkub if Ado had to guess, let out a rumbling laugh “Bravado. How _amusing_. I will enjoy watching you _break_.”

Ado rolled his eyes “And _I’ll_ enjoy watching you _fail_.”

Forkub chuckled “Oh, I don’t think we will. You will serve as a warning to all the other fools that Forkub the Hutt is not to be trifled with.”

“Was _that_ what I was doing?” Ado smirked “‘Trifling’? Ouch, I was hoping for a least being a pain in your slimy ass. What a disappointment.”

“Indeed.” Forkub growled “Now sit tight, your… _entertainer_ will be with you shortly.”

With that Ado was left alone in the silence once more. Ado stared up at the ceiling. So this was it. This was how he was going to die. Tortured for a Hutt’s sick amusement. Well, he had been hoping for something a little bit quicker, but it didn’t really matter did it? Ado had done the best he could, helped as many people as he could, and now he was going to die.

Closing his eyes, Ado saw his father’s sad smile, and wondered if he was doing well. Did he have any other sons? Hopefully they weren’t as much a disgrace as Ado had been. Maybe one day, if what the seers said was true, they would see one another again, though that is of course assuming the All-Mother would ever embrace one as sinful as Ado. Personally, he doubted it. Men like him don’t get happy endings, even in death. Opening his eyes, Ado’s mind drifted to Boba. Would he even notice Ado was gone? Would he even _care_? For some reason, that thought made Ado’s heart ache.

The sole door in the room opened and a familiar rodian entered. Ado forced himself to grin “Oh hey, I remember you! You’re the thug who was threatening that old ithorian doctor. How have you been? I see you delivered my message to Forkie alright.”

The rodian snarled and backhanded Ado across the face, _hard_. He could taste blood in his mouth as the rodian hissed “You broke my bots, now I’m going to break _you_.”

With all the courage he could muster, Ado spat out the blood and laughed “Go ahead, _give it your best shot._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I've got a clear outline for the rest of this story now, and I actually want to finish it this summer before I go back to school (we're a little over halfway through things) but to do that I'm going to need to cut out a lot of the sex scenes I had planned. Is that alright with you guys? Are you interested enough in Ado and Boba's story to see it through to the end, even without a whole lot of sex? Let me know.


	13. A Daring Rescue

“What the _fuck_ did that idiot do?!”

Dona looked up from her terminal as she heard Boba storm into the apartment. He was wearing his full armor and the air around him was crackling with rage. Dona allowed herself a small smile “You made good time.”

“What. Did. Ado. Do?!” Boba growled out, marching up to the blue twi’lek.

“He got himself captured, that’s what.” Nox stated grimly from his spot sitting on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table.

Boba froze and cocked his head at the kaleesh, noticing him for the first time. “Dona,” he said, a sharp edge in his voice “Who is this bonehead and what is he doing in my apartment?”

Nox cocked an eyebrow beneath his skull mask “ _Your_ apartment? I thought this place was Ado’s!”

Instead of answering, Boba growled “Get your feet off my table, Skully.”

“Gee, I’ve never heard _that_ one before.”

“Measure dick sizes later, you two.” Dona snapped, finally fed up with their bickering. “Boba, this is Nox Jal Rrosh, a friend of Ado’s. Nox, this is Boba Fett, Ado’s…” she paused, not entirely sure how to describe the peculiar relationship between the bounty hunter and vigilante.

Dona could feel Boba’s glare from beneath his visor as he growled out “ _Associate_.”

“Right, that.” Dona shook her head, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Now wasn’t the time to tease the bounty hunter.

“Who and what do I have to shoot?” Boba said curtly, cutting straight to the matter at hand.

“Forkub the Hutt and his ugly goons.” Nox _helpfully_ supplied. “They’re the ones who have Ado.”

Dona winced, she’d been planning on saying that a bit more delicately, and judging from how Boba had tensed up, she’d been right to be concerned. “Listen, Boba…”

“ _Forkub_.” The bounty hunter growled dangerously, approaching Dona and roughly grabbing her by the collar, pulling his head so close she could just about make out the angry flames of his eyes through his visor. “You told Ado to clean up a district run by _Forkub_?!”

“Oh, good. You’re familiar with him.” Dona said with feigned cheer “That’ll make things easier for-”

“ _Shut. Up._ ” Dona winced but complied, looking away as Boba growled out. “You know that even his _fellow_ _Hutts_ think Forkub is a paranoid, temperamental madman! And I once watched Jabba execute a man for giving him a blue rug as a present for his birthday!”

“I…” Dona tried to say, but Boba wasn’t finished.

“Why the _fuck_ did you think that sending Ado into his turf was a good idea?!”

Dona cringed “I just…”

Suddenly, Dona heard the sound of a rifle being cocked, and both she and Boba looked over to see that Nox had gotten up and was pointing his blaster at the bounty hunter’s head. “Let her go.” The kaleesh growled “Unless you think that tin armor is good enough to withstand a blaster to the _face_.”

For a moment, there was silence, then Boba growled out. “You haven’t heard of me have you?”

Nox shrugged, keeping his rifle trained on Boba’s head. “I have, actually. You’re the attack-dog of a slug.”

Boba snarled “Then maybe you should watch my _teeth_.”

Dona’s eyes went wide. This isn’t how things were supposed to go down. They were supposed to come up with a plan to rescue Ado, not fight amongst themselves. At this rate, there wouldn’t be anything left of Ado when they got to him. “Enough!” She said firmly, grabbing Boba’s hands and forcing them off of her, while placing herself between the bounty hunter and the bodyguard. “This squabbling is getting us _nowhere_. Ado could be _dying_ right now and you two are acting like _children_!”

At the mention of Ado, Boba tensed for a moment before letting his shoulders slump. “Fine, whatever.”

Dona looked over to Nox and saw him lowering his rifle, looking sufficiently chastised. Satisfied that their stupid posturing was over, Dona returned to her terminal. “You’re right Boba, Forkub _is_ ruthless. But he’s also just a giant bully. He was going to fall sooner or later”

Boba moved to stand next to Dona, looking down at her terminal. “You have a plan.”

Dona grinned, pulling up a rather detailed chart on the terminal “Yep. Forkub is a frugal bastard. I was surprised he actually spent credits on Ado’s bounty. So I got thinking, maybe he covered that cost by cutting expenses somewhere else, for example, his guards. So, I dug up his finances for the past several weeks.” She pointed to a spot on the chart “This was when he added to Ado’s bounty. Notice anything?”

“There’s no drop.” Boba said.

Dona nodded “Exactly, according to Nox he already doesn’t pay any of his men well, the only reason most of them stick around is fear. And if Forkub has actually _cut_ some of their wages? Well, I guarantee that, if given the chance, most of them will cut and run rather than die for him.” She made a point to look at Boba. “Especially when presented with something much _scarier_.”

“You want me to use my reputation to intimidate them.” Boba stated.

“You always go on about how you’re the deadliest bounty hunter in the galaxy.” Dona said with a shrug. “We might as well use that notoriety for something.”

“And what if they _aren’t_ intimidated?” Nox asked.

Boba growled “Then I’ll give them a _reason_ to be.”

…

Standing on a rooftop a fair ways off from Forkub’s base of operations, Boba triple-checked his loadout. Jetpack, rocket, blaster rifle, flamethrower, thermal detonators, and more, he was geared up for a frontal assault. Forkub’s compound was heavily guarded, war droids, heavily armed guards, and turrets patrolled the walls and grounds, and Boba was prepared to fight through every last one of them to get to Ado.

Boba glanced over at his companion. He’d wanted to go it alone, but Dona had insisted he take that kaleesh, Nox, with him. Boba didn’t like the kaleesh at all and he couldn’t possibly fathom why Ado had befriended him. Grouchily, Boba wondered what their relationship actually _was_. Were they simply friends? Acquaintances? _More_? (An emotion Boba did not want to identify writhed and hissed in his gut at the notion.)

Currently, Nox was doing a last minute check-up on the armored speeder that would serve as their transportation in and out of the compound. Boba had wanted to use the _Slave I_ , but Dona had pointed out that his ship’s bulky form would have trouble navigating the narrow skylines around the compound, so she’d procured an armor-plated speeder for them instead. (Boba didn’t know where or how she got it, but he had known Dona long enough to know better than to ask.)

The compound was placed atop one of the buildings that were built on the Crush. It didn’t reach into the skyline like most of the towers crowding around it, leaving the entire area feeling very claustrophobic. There was a circular central structure vaguely reminiscent of typical hutt palaces surrounded by a high wall, and a landing pad that jutted out over the chasm. There was also a hidden hanger bay beneath the compound that held Forkub’s escape shuttle. Dona had given them a layout of the compound, and even managed to hack into its network to find where Ado was being held: a small room tucked away deep in the palace’s depths.

She’d been unable to get access to the cameras- apparently they were on a closed network, but she had managed to acquire a couple little surprises that would prove useful in the attack. They had decided on a frontal assault, Dona and Boba had both reached the conclusion that, while they could in theory sneak inside the palace, getting out undetected with Ado in tow would be difficult, especially if he was… badly wounded (Boba’s stomach turned at the thought). Fighting their way in instead of out seemed like the far wiser option, and it would give Boba a chance to let his reputation do some talking.

“Are you ready to go?” Nox asked suddenly, getting Boba’s attention.

Boba took one more glance at the compound. His hands had been trembling ever since he heard Ado had been captured. He didn’t know what was more terrifying, that Ado could very well be dying right now, or that Boba even _cared_. Why? Why did he care about that naïve idiot so much? It just didn’t make sense. Hells, the fact that he was even _admitting_ he cared didn’t make sense! The sooner he put all of this behind him the better.

With a nod, Boba said “Yeah, let’s go save that idiot.”

…

Forkub watched with glee as the hologram of Night Edge, writhed in pain in front of him. You’d think that it would have gotten boring after a while, but they’d been torturing the vigilante nonstop for several days now, and Forkub still hadn’t gotten tired of watching it. This was worth every cred he’d spent.

Sadly, it seemed out of all the lowlifes within his antechamber, _he_ was the only one enjoying this.

“Can I _go_ now?” the bounty hunter Chalk said impatiently, not even looking at the holo.

“No.” Forkub snapped, irritated at having his entertainment interrupted. “Eventually Night Edge will break and reveal his accomplices. If they are as dangerous as he is, I will need _you_ to bring them in.”

Chalk made it clear she was rolling her eyes beneath her helmet. “He’s not _going_ to break. I’ve seen his type before. Self-righteous morons who would gladly give their lives for a cause instead of save their own skins.” She put a hand on her hip “Besides, how do you even know he _has_ accomplices? Seems to me like this Night Edge guy works alone.”

Forkub bristled. “There are _always_ more.” Turning his gaze back to the vigilante’s hologram, he snarled “His kind are like a _disease_. They spread their filth, infecting the vermin with foolish notions of grandeur. I _refuse_ to allow this virus to persist. I will _purge_ it from Nar Shaddaa in fire if I have to!”

“Uh huh,” Chalk said skeptically. “You do realize that the longer you keep me around the higher my fee will be right?”

Forkub pursed his wrinkly lips “I am _aware_. You will be compensated _thoroughly_. I assure you.”

He could hear the savage smile in her voice as Chalk said “I _better_. You don’t want to make an _enemy_ of me.”

Before Forkub could retort, the holo vanished and the entire antechamber was plunged into darkness. Hissing, Forkub snapped into the dark “What happened?!”

One of his men, some grunt he couldn’t bother remembering the name of said “I believe the power has gone out, sir.”

Forkub rolled his eyes “I can _see_ that, I want to know _why_!”

Before anyone could respond, the lights returned to life. Thinking that was the end of it, Forkub was about to order his entertainment be turned back on when he noticed his head of security (a zabrak man who Forkub also couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of) raise a hand to the com in his ear, a concerned look on his face.

“What?” the zabrak said. Eyes widening, the zabrak turned to Forkub. “Sir, there’s an unidentified speeder carrying two armed individuals hovering over the compound!”

Forkub was about to snap at the zabrak to shut up and just have his men open fire when the internal coms of his palace crackled to life. **“Listen to me now, Forkub.”** a rough voice growled **“I am the bounty hunter Boba Fett.”** Stunned gasps and worried murmurs filled the antechamber **“I trust you’ve heard of me. You have something that _belongs_ to me: a vigilante named Night Edge, and I am taking. Him. Back.”**

Forkub frowned, why would the legendary Boba Fett care about a lowly vigilante?

 **“Any who lays down their weapons will be spared”** Boba Fett continued **“But, anyone who gets in my way will be _slaughtered_. And if I find a single _scratch_ on him, I will massacre _every. Last. One of you_. This is your final warning.” ** With that, the coms cut out.

Forkub looked around the antechamber, noticing that several guards were looking like they were liable to bolt at any second. “Don’t listen to that foolish rat. There are only two of them. Our security is more than capable of handling-”

“Sir!” His head of security suddenly interrupted, earning a snarl from Forkub. His hand was raised once more to the com in his ear. “The turrets and droids have opened fire on our men!”

Forkub’s eyes went wide, fear crushing his shriveled chest. “Take me to the escape shuttle! You!” He pointed to Chalk “You want to be paid, don’t you? Deal with this, bounty hunter!”

For a moment Chalk didn’t say anything, her long white fingers tapped at her pistol, delight oozing from her voice as she drawled “Well, it seems you were right. He _did_ have associates.” She turned to look at Forkub, and the hutt could almost picture the savage smile beneath her helmet “You’re in luck. I have some… _unfinished_ _business_ with Fett. I’ll handle him.”

…

Boba jetpacked down from the speeder, watching with satisfaction as chaos erupted inside the compound. The turrets and droids Dona had hacked into were sowing havoc among Forkub’s men. The ones who had been already considering throwing down their weapons at Boba’s threat had simply run off or taken cover, hoping to survive. Nox was landing the speeder behind him and would stay back to defend it while Boba went deeper inside the palace to rescue Ado.

Grinning beneath his visor, Boba hefted his rifle and marched into the fray. Blaster shots soared around him as the guards frantically tried to regroup against their own defenses turning against them. Barely anyone paid Boba any mind, and those who did were swiftly cut down with a single shot to the head. Boba noticed that the guards were attempting to shut the door to the palace, and simply smirked, tossing a thermal detonator into the entrance. Instantly, the doors were blown apart, and the guards trying to close them burnt to a crisp. Boba stepped over their charred bodies and made his way inside, shooting any who dared to cross him.

He knew that in order for him to get to where Ado was being held, Boba would need to pass through the antechamber where Forkub held court. Hopefully, the slimy worm hadn’t slithered off somewhere and Boba could deal with him swiftly. The resistance he faced was about what he’d expected. There were several guards that hadn’t deserted, but it seems most of them had done the smart thing and kept out of Boba’s way. The bodies of those who didn’t littered the halls behind him in a trail of death.

Finally, he made it to the antechamber, a large, oval room with ugly light red cobble floors and beige walls with a network of black pipes crawling all over them and up into the rounded ceiling. Unfortunately, it appeared that the hutt had indeed evacuated. That didn’t mean the room was abandoned however. Standing in the center of the room was a humanoid female with long, slender fingers and chalk-white skin, wearing a helmet, tight orange leggings, and a black vest. She had a sniper rifle slung over her shoulder and a pistol in one hand, trained right at Boba’s head.

“Well, well, well.” She cooed “If it isn’t _little Boba_.”

The bounty hunter froze. He recognized that voice. The woman reached up with one hand and pulled her helmet off. Her face was heavily scarred, her antenna and ponytail were gone, and one of her eyes was missing, covered by an eyepatch, but that remaining dark eye glinting with cruelty and the sadistic grin on her lips were all too familiar.

Boba tensed, “I’d heard you were dead, Sing.”

Aurra Sing laughed, replacing her helmet “Tales of my demise were _grossly_ exaggerated.”

Boba slowly stepped further into the room, eyes on the lookout for any possible traps Sing might have laid. “Really? Then I would have thought you’d be retired by now. Last time I checked you weren’t exactly young.”

Sing cocked her head to the side, no doubt wearing a wicked grin beneath her helmet “True, but you know as well as I that there just isn’t anything quite _like_ a good hunt. I couldn’t stay away, so I took an alias and started hunting once more.”

“What alias is that?” Boba asked, partly out of curiosity, and partly to keep his old mentor talking while he formulated a strategy to take her down.

“I go by ‘Chalk’ now.” Sing stated.

Boba couldn’t help but snort as he closed the distance between them further. “Creative.”

Sing didn’t respond to the comment, instead she slowly started to walk to the side, pistol still trained on him. Boba moved to match her movements, and soon he and Sing were circling each other. “You know, I haven’t seen you in years. I was wondering if all the stories I kept hearing were true.”

Boba shrugged “If you’re talking about the disintegration incident, it only happened one time, and it was an accident. He was worth more alive.”

Sing chuckled “Oh no, not that. There are rumors -nothing more than whispers, really- that you’ve started growing _soft_. I’ve even heard that you let a bounty go on this very moon, the man you’ve come here to rescue in fact! And you even _helped_ him kill your client.” Boba stiffened, he hadn’t been aware that news about the incident with Traven had spread. “Don’t look so shocked Boba, you know I have quite a lot of connections. Oh course I know _better_ than to believe _that_.” Sing continued, “That would simply be _unprofessional_.” She paused. “Then _again_ …”  

Boba forced himself to remain calm, “Turning on Traven was simply good sense, the madman was trying to unleash the rakghoul plague on Nar Shaddaa. I rather like this moon, and plagues tend to be bad for business.”

Sing nodded “Oh no, I understand perfectly _why_ you did it. I probably would have done the same thing in your position. But I did some research, and it’s what came _after_ that I find curious.”

Boba felt his blood run cold. “And that would be?”

“You let Night Edge go, even though he _still_ had a price on his head.” Sing said knowingly. “There was really no reason for you to not try and collect.”

Boba’s eyes narrowed beneath his visor “Actually, there was.” He growled out “He saved my life.”

“And?”

Boba shook his head “That’s the difference between us, Sing. You don’t have honor, I _do_.”

Sing cocked her head to the side “Honor? _Really_? You expect me to believe that?”

“ _Elek_.” Boba growled. “I do.”

His use of Mando’a seemed to catch Sing off-guard. After a moment she said “Fair enough. Still, that doesn’t explain why you kept in touch now does it?”

Boba stopped in his tracks, glaring at Sing “What makes you think I did?”

Sing chuckled, stopping as well “ _Please_ , Boba. He’s been spotted near your apartment quite a lot over the last year.”

Boba snarled “And? What of it? He’s a useful asset to have around. That’s all.”

Sing seemed to examine him for a moment, then shook her head “Oh _Boba_ … You’ve gotten _attached_ haven’t you?”

Boba felt rage building beneath his skin. “Shut. Up.” He snapped.

Sing merely laughed. “Oh, you _have_ … Boba I thought I taught you better than that.”

Boba growled. He was done with this. Raising his rifle, Boba pointed it at the other bounty hunter’s head. “Get out of my way, Sing.”

“Did I touch a nerve?” Sing chuckled “I guess he means quite a lot to you doesn’t he?”

“I won’t ask again.” Boba hissed, fury reaching the breaking point “I’m taking Ado out of here. You won’t be able to stop me.”

“ _Ado_?” Boba realized his mistake too late. Sadistic glee was dripping from Sing’s voice as she said “So you’re on a first-name basis, hmm?  How _interesting_. Maybe all of those rumors _were_ true.” She cocked her head to the side and said tauntingly “There’s speculation that the great Boba Fett has a _secret_ _lover_ on Nar Shaddaa. Could that be this ‘Ado’ of yours?” At Boba’s silence, Sing laughed “Oh it _is_. Tell me Boba,” Her next words were barely more than a whisper, but they might as well have been a thunderclap “Do you _love_ him?”

In that instant Boba’s blood boiled over. With a furious growl, he opened fire on his former mentor. Sing was quick and, laughing, rolled out of the way, firing back at him. Boba ducked out of the way of Sing’s shots, not letting up on his assault. Sing raced across the room, tossing a thermal detonator at Boba. Boba just barely managed to jetpack out of the way of the explosion, and slammed into the pipes on the wall. Kicking off a pipe, he jetted away as Sing fired another series of shots at him. Now high above his opponent, Boba used his flamethrower to rain fire down on Sing. She was fast however, and just barely managed to escape the flames unscathed.

Boba lifted his rifle and fired once more. His shots chased Sing around the room, but the other bounty hunter was too fast. She seemed to anticipate where Boba would fire and always managed to dodge out of the way at the last moment. Growing even more frustrated, Boba swore as Sing started firing back. Her shots were going wide, but they were close enough to make Boba subconsciously move to avoid them. The way things were going it looked like this battle would be one of attrition. They were too evenly matched.

Suddenly, Sing tossed out another grenade towards the center of the room. Boba realized too late what it was and only just looked away as a blinding flash filled the room along with a loud _bang_. His helmet managed to protect him from the worst of the flashbang, but he was distracted for a moment, and that moment was all Sing needed. Boba felt something strike his jetpack, and soon found himself spiraling towards the ground. Acting quickly, Boba deactivated his jetpack and hit the floor in a roll, coming up ready to open fire on Sing once more. She may have damaged his jetpack, but that just meant they were _both_ on the ground. He could work with this easily. As he opened fire once more, the soles of Sing’s feet suddenly ignited and she shot up into the air, grabbing onto one of the pipes and firing down at him.

 _She has jet-boots?!_ Boba swore as he dodged the shots. _Now that’s just copying!_

Their positions were reversed, now Sing was the one jetting about the room and firing down on Boba as he scrambled to avoid each shot. Slowly, she was driving Boba towards the back of the room. Before too long, he would be cornered, and Sing would have him. He had to admit it was actually a pretty clever strategy, though he hadn’t expected anything less. Aurra Sing was one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy.

Unfortunately for her, Boba Fett was _the_ best.

Gritting his teeth, Boba dodged Sing’s next volley. It looked like Sing’s jet-boots weren’t capable of sustained flight like his jetpack, so she had to grab onto the pipes on the walls and ceiling to stay above him. And, Boba noticed there was a two second cooldown for the boots. It wasn’t a large opening, but it was one he could work with. Carefully, he kept track of where Sing was landing after each jet across the room, and the moment he saw a good angle he struck.

Just as Sing positioned herself close to directly above Boba, he acted, quickly angling his torso just right and launching the rocket on his jetpack at her. Of course, Sing was quick to notice and jetted out of the way at the last second.

That was fine, Boba hadn’t been trying to get a direct hit anyways.

The two second cooldown on her jet-boots meant that Sing wasn’t able to fully escape the explosion’s radius, and it was enough to knock her out of the air. The moment Sing crashed to the floor, Boba was on her, kicking away her pistol and pointing his rifle straight at her head.

Sing was quick to recover from her momentary daze, but the moment she saw Boba looming over her with his rifle aimed between his eyes, she chuckled and held up her hands in surrender. “Not a bad move, little Boba.”

Boba narrowed his eyes beneath his visor. “I don’t suppose it would be too much to expect you to surrender now would it?”

He could hear the smile in her voice “Nope.”

Without warning, Sing lashed out, kicking Boba’s rifle and sending his shot wide. In an instant, Sing had rolled to her feet and pulled out her sniper rifle, aiming it at Boba’s chest…

_BAM!_

Boba was faster. He’d re-aimed his rifle at Sing, and the moment she had gotten out her sniper rifle, shot her right in the chest. Sing was knocked back by the blast, hit the floor, and moved no more.

Shaking his head, Boba walked in the direction of the door he knew would take him towards where Ado was being held. The rest of the route was fairly quiet. It seemed the remaining guards were either evacuating with Forkub, or had run off to save their own skins. When he finally arrived outside the door to the room Ado was being held in, he paused, mentally preparing himself for what he might find inside. He had no idea what condition Ado would be in, he had to be ready for the worst.

Taking a deep breath, Boba opened the door, and his heart stopped. Ado was slumped over, tied to a chair in nothing but his briefs. His eyes were shut and he had numerous bruises and burns, dry blood stained his lips. Ado was hooked up to some sort of electric generator, with several wires taped to his skin. It looked like they had been torturing him using electricity. Only the slow rise and fall of his chest told Boba he was still alive…

Also, there was a rodian was standing behind Ado, holding a blaster to the vigilante’s head. “Don’t move or I’ll-”

_BAM!_

Boba didn’t even hesitate, raising his rifle and putting a shot right between the rodian’s bug eyes. He didn’t even look when the rodian’s body hit the floor. He simply rushed forward to Ado’s side and quickly started removing the wires taped to Ado’s skin, revealing bright red welts.

Ado’s violet eyes fluttered open when Boba started to undo the straps tying him to the chair. “Boba…?” he mumbled, staring at the bounty hunter in confusion. “What… are you…?”

Boba growled as he finished freeing the vigilante “I’m _saving_ your stupid ass, _that’s_ what I’m doing!” He pulled Ado out of the chair and put one of the vigilante’s arms over his shoulders, wrapping an arm around his back to support his weight. “Now… ugh! Come on, use your feet! I’ll drag you out of here if I have to!”

It took Ado a moment to get his feet steady, and he still needed to lean on Boba for support, but slowly they walked out of the room. “My… my armor…” Ado breathed out.

“Forkub sold it.” Boba said “Dona found it on the black market and got it back. Its waiting for you back at the apartment.”

“Oh…. thanks…”

Boba snorted “You have a _lot_ to thank me for.”

“I…” Ado coughed “I didn’t think…”

Boba rolled his eyes as he half-dragged Ado through the hall “Clearly.”

“No…” Ado said slowly, shaking his head “I didn’t think… you cared…”

Boba internally winced and pointedly made sure not to look at the vigilante as he whispered “Neither did I.”

It took far too long to drag Ado out of Forkub’s palace. More than once the vigilante had stumbled and Boba had needed to pull him back up again. Thankfully, they didn’t run into anyone on the way out, it looked like everyone left had fled. Just as he’d expected, Sing’s body wasn’t in the antechamber when they passed through. Boba didn’t know if he was happy about that or not.

Nox was waiting outside the palace by their speeder with rifle in hand, warily eyeing the hacked droids and turrets. He looked over as Boba dragged Ado out through the door, and, eyes going wide, quickly hurried to help the bounty hunter carry the vigilante. A part of Boba had wanted to growl at the kaleesh and tell him to back off, but he restrained himself. Together, they managed to get Ado safely back to the speeder. The vigilante had passed out at some point, and as they got him into the back seat, Boba found himself unconsciously reaching up with a gloved hand to stroke the vigilante’s cheek. Realizing what he was doing, and self-consciously aware that he wasn’t alone Boba stepped back, suddenly feeling immensely embarrassed.

Thankfully, Nox was either smart enough or nice enough not to comment on the bounty hunter’s behavior. “We should take him to Dr. Dand.” The kaleesh said “He’ll be able to fix Ado up.”

Boba nodded, Dona had told him about the ithorian doctor beforehand. He was about to (reluctantly) thank Nox for his help when, without warning, Boba heard rumbling below them. A shuttle suddenly flew out of the hidden hanger beneath the compound and took off into the distance. “Forkub.” Boba snarled.

“He’ll come after Ado again.” Nox pointed out, worry in his voice.

“No.” Boba growled, glaring as the shuttle vanished into the skyline. “He _won’t_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, feel free to let me know what you think!


	14. A Vulnerable Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've gotta start picking up the pace with these chapters, otherwise I won't be done before the end of summer.
> 
> Also, the start of this chapter was FUN to write!

Forkub’s shuttle had taken the hutt to one of his penthouses, perched atop a tower that loomed over Hutta Town. It was not an ideal locale, his compound had many resources that the penthouse did not, but it would be safe enough. Forkub and his entourage had made their way quickly inside, guards taking up strategic positions while Forkub slowly slithered his way into the penthouse’s inner sanctum, flanked by his zabrak head of security. Once inside, Forkub plopped himself atop a pile of cushions against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. That was more exercise then he’d done in _months_!

“You!” Forkub pointed to one of his grunts “Get me something sweet to drink!”

The grunt hesitated for a moment, but a nod from the head of security told him to comply with the demand. As the grunt departed, the zabrak turned to Forkub “Sir, you should remain here until the situation is brought under control. We don’t know if they are going to follow us.”

Forkub dismissively waved a stubby hand “Feh! There’s no need to be alarmed. The entire penthouse is heavily guarded, and we’ve disabled all of the automated defenses. They won’t be able to pull the same trick they did in the compound. Besides,” Forkub snorted “That bounty hunter was only interested in Night Edge. He has no reason to come after me, and that’s assuming Chalk didn’t kill him.”

The zabrak looked like he wanted to say more, but at that moment the grunt returned with Forkub’s drink, and the hutt dismissed him. The next hour was fairly boring, there was little to do but sit and wait for more news from the compound. Honestly, this whole business was quite irritating. Forkub had been enjoying watching Night Edge be tortured, and that stupid bounty hunter had to go and interrupt it. (What was his name again? Gogo Mitt?) Forkub hoped Chalk had put that punk in his place.

Forkub was about to take another sip from his drink when he heard a distant rumbling. He frowned, it sounded like the engines of a starship. He looked around at the guards in the room, all of them seemed to be just as confused as he was. Forkub pursed his lips. “Perhaps Chalk has come to report her success-”

_BOOM!_

The entire building shook as the first in a series of explosions rocked the penthouse. Forkub squealed and accidentally dropped his drink, the glass shattering on the floor. He looked around nervously. The guard in front of the door raised a hand to his com “What’s happening out there?!”

_CRA-BOOM!_

In that moment, the door to the sanctum blew inward, crushing the guard. Forkub’s eyes went wide as he looked out through the doorway. Through the smoke, he could see one of the penthouse’s large windows had been blasted apart. Hovering in the air, silhouetted against the setting sun, was a heavily armed starship that, had Forkub been the type to do his research, he would have recognized as the personal craft of a very infamous bounty hunter: the _Slave I_.

Suddenly, something dropped out from beneath the _Slave I_ , disappearing from sight only to a moment later rocket up into the destroyed window and land inside the penthouse, revealing itself to be a menacing figure in green Mandalorian armor. In that moment, Forkub had the horrific realization that made men far braver then him tremble in terror:

Boba Fett had come for him.

The Mandalorian marched forward like Death incarnate, rifle firing rapidly at Forkub’s guards. Forkub watched as his head of security charged the bounty hunter with a vibrosword, only for Boba Fett to casually dodge his swing and shoot him in the face point-blank. The zabrak fell to the floor, dead, and Boba Fett continued his march towards his prey uninhibited.

With the smoke and flames billowing around him, Boba Fett stepped through the door into the sanctum, and the three remaining guards protecting Forkub within opened fire. The bounty hunter rolled forward, dodging the blasts, and brought his own rifle up, swiftly dispatching one of the guards with a shot to the head. The other two guards stupidly chose to switch tactics, pulling out their vibroswords and charging the bounty hunter. Forkub watched in horror as Fett easily dodged their strikes, using his jetpack to backflip out of the way. As he landed, before the two guards could close the distance between them again, flames burst forth from Boba Fett’s gauntlet. The fire engulfed the guards who, shrieking in pain, dropped their swords and collapsed to the ground, trying in vain to put themselves out. Fett dispatched them both with a quick headshot each, and suddenly he and Forkub were alone.

The hutt trembled. “I-I see you survived Chalk bounty hunter… E-Excellent work… P-Perhaps w-we could come to an-”

_BAM!_

Forkub shrieked as Boba Fett shot the hutt’s gut. The wound wasn’t anywhere near fatal, but it hurt immensely. “What did I tell you?” Boba Fett growled out. “If I saw _one scratch_ on him, I was going to _slaughter every last one of you_.”

Forkub’s eyes widened “N-Now let’s not be hasty here! I’m sure we could come to some sort of arrangement h-”

“ _No_.” Boba Fett lifted his wrist, pointing his flamethrower at the hutt and hissed coldly “Now _burn_ , you slug.”

…

Boba followed the directions Dona had given him to Dr. Dand’s clinic. Nox had taken Ado there for treatment while Boba went after Forkub. Now that the hutt was nothing more than a charred lump, Boba’s thoughts had turned to Ado’s condition. While it seemed like none of his wounds would be permanent, Boba couldn’t help but feel a freezing fear grip his chest like a vice.

_“I didn’t think… you cared…”_

Boba scowled at the memory of those words. He _shouldn’t_ care, that was the problem! Ado was a naïve idiot and it was honestly only a matter of time until something like this happened, yet Boba was still furious that it actually had. It didn’t make any _sense_!

 _“You’ve gotten_ attached _haven’t you?”_

Sing’s words were still ringing around in his head. At the time, all they had done was make Boba angry, but now… what if she was right? What if he _had_ gotten attached to Ado? Boba scowled, the mere notion that _he_ , the great Boba Fett, the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy cared about this stupid vigilante should be absurd! And yet… when Ado was in trouble, Boba hadn’t hesitated to rush to his aid, and now he was even checking up on the bastard like a-

Boba momentarily stopped in his tracks. A _what_? A _friend_? Something… _more_? The thought made revulsion boil in his gut. There was no way Boba was so… _sentimental_. He couldn’t afford to be, not in his line of work. Such feelings were nothing but a weakness that could be exploited. Boba could not allow himself to become vulnerable. He should leave this moon as quickly as possible but… surely just making sure Ado was alright wouldn’t hurt. Right?

Dand’s clinic came into view. Nox was standing guard outside, rifle in hand. He nodded when Boba approached. “I take it Forkub’s dead then?”

Instead of answering, Boba curtly asked “Where is he?”

Nox blinked at Boba’s rudeness, but jerked his head towards the clinic’s door. “Inside. Dand is making sure those bastards didn’t do anything permanent. He was awake last time I saw him, I’m sure he’ll happy to see you.”

“Right.” Boba grumbled, moving to walk past the kaleesh guard into the clinic.

“Hey.” Nox put a hand on Boba’s shoulder as he walked by. Boba angrily yanked his shoulder out of the kaleesh’s grasp and turned to glare daggers at him from beneath his visor. Nox frowned at Boba’s behavior but calmly said “He’ll be okay.”

Boba scowled, but didn’t say another word, simply walking inside the clinic. He found Ado lying on a medical cot near the back of the clinic, Dr. Dand applying bacta salve bandages to the vigilante’s wounds. Boba stopped in the doorway, unsure if he should go any further. Ado was clearly doing better, he was awake and talking to the ithorian doctor, his violet eyes had regained their usual spark. Boba could clearly see that Ado was fine, he didn’t _need_ to approach him. He could turn around and leave right now, it would be easy, and yet something was keeping him there, unable to move.

Suddenly, Ado happened to glance in Boba’s direction, and his face lit up. “Boba!” he said happily “You’re here!”

 _Shit_. So much for walking away. Boba sighed and removed his helmet, walking up to Ado’s bedside. Dand excused himself, giving them some privacy, and once they were alone Boba said gruffly “You seem to be healing well.”

Ado smiled “Well, those idiots lacked creativity when it came to torturing me. Dand says I should be fine in a week or so.”

“Right,” Boba cleared his throat, looking away “That’s… that’s good.”

For a moment, neither of them said anything, the silence weighing heavily between them. Then Ado said “Hey… um… I wanted to apologize.”

Boba blinked and looked back down at Ado, confused. “For what?”

“For…” Ado glanced away “For saying you didn’t care.” He looked back, his violet eyes locking with Boba’s brown. “I’m sorry.”

Boba would deny it in a heartbeat, but warmth bloomed in his chest at Ado’s words. “Um… it’s fine… don’t worry about it.”

Ado stared at Boba curiously for a moment, but then gave him a small smile and reached out to take Boba’s hand. “Thank you for coming for me…”

A part of Boba wanted to pull his hand away from Ado’s, but he realized that he didn’t quite have the heart to do it. “So…” he coughed “When do you think you’ll be able to leave this place?”

Ado blinked, “Um… Dand said I’d be fine to go back home tomorrow.”

It didn’t escape Boba’s notice that Ado had called the apartment “home”. He wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about that. “That’s… that’s good.” He glanced away “I… I probably need to get going. I’ll ask Dona to look after you until you’re better.”

“You’re leaving Nar Shaddaa?” Ado said, surprised.

Boba nodded, a small pang of guilt ringing through his chest “I… I kind of left in a rush. Jabba will mount me on a wall if I’m not there and he has a job for me. I might not be around for a while.”

“Right…” Ado said, noticeably glum. “That’s fair. I probably am going to have my hands full too. Forkub is going to be looking for revenge. I’ve got to make sure the people of the Crush don’t get caught in the middle.”

Boba blinked, and suddenly realized Ado didn’t know about the hutt’s demise. “Forkub’s dead.” He said. “I killed him myself.”

Ado’s eyes widened “You _what_?” He made to sit up, only to wince in pain, forcing Boba to grab his shoulder and gently press him back against the mattress. “Why did you do that?”

Boba bit his lip and looked away “He would have come after you… I… I had to make sure you were safe.”

Ado stared at Boba for a moment before sighing and looking away “So now I have to deal with a power vacuum instead. That’s going to be fun.”

Boba tried not to wince. In his anger, he’d completely forgotten about that. “Sorry.”

Ado shook his head “It’s alright, he would have needed to go sooner or later. I was just hoping I would have someone ready to step in and stabilize the situation before then.” He closed his eyes and said tiredly “The next few weeks are going to be _fun_ …”

Boba sighed and found himself giving Ado’s hand a squeeze “Don’t push yourself too hard.” Without thinking, he added “ _Meh gar kyrayc, shuk bah ni_.”

Ado opened his eyes and looked at Boba, confusion written on his face. “…What?

Boba felt blood rush to his cheeks as he realized he’d just slipped into Mando’a. “It’s… it’s a Mandalorian expression.” He looked away “It means ‘you’re no use to me dead’. It was… something my father used to tell me when I worked myself too hard.” He forced himself to release Ado’s hand and turned away. “Rest. I’ll… I’ll be in touch.”

Putting his helmet back on, Boba marched out of the clinic as quickly as he could without breaking out into a full sprint. He hadn’t accidentally slipped into Mando’a in so long, not since he was a child at least. It brought back memories of his father’s rare smiles, of his large hand ruffling Boba’s hair, and long hours poring over texts, learning about a heritage he only knew from the silver and blue armor his father had worn. Doing it now, with _Ado_ of all people, felt far too… _intimate_ for his liking.

He wasn’t attached. He _wasn’t_!

…

Nox was the one to take Ado back to the apartment the next day. He still had trouble walking, and had to lean against the kaleesh for support the whole trip to the speeder. Once they got there, Ado was greeted by Dona, along with someone he had not been expecting.

“ _Dees_?” Ado’s eyes widened upon seeing the sex-droid. He and Dona had finished up their repairs on Dees over a week ago, and all that had been left was for Dona to reprogram him, something she could handle without Ado’s help just fine. He honestly hadn’t expected to ever see the droid again.

Dees bowed “Greetings, Master Ado! Lady Dona is having me assist you while you recover from your injuries.” Ado’s confusion must have shown because the droid added “Do not fear, Lady Dona made sure to install proper medical programing. I shall not harm you.”

“Right…” Ado looked over to Dona “I thought you would have sent him off to that droid-rights group already.”

“I think I’m going to keep him as an assistant, actually.” Dona said “He’s surprisingly versatile.” She smiled and walked forward, pulling Ado into a quick hug. “How are you doing?” she asked, pulling back.

Ado shrugged “As fine as I can be, all things considered.” He glanced around “I… don’t suppose Boba changed his mind and decided to stay for a little longer?”

Dona sighed and shook her head. “Nope, he took off right after he visited you at the clinic.” She forced a smile “Don’t worry about him, I’m sure he’ll be back in no time.” Her eyes twinkled “I doubt he can stay away.” She gestured towards the apartment door, “Anyways, let’s get you inside, you look like you still need some rest.”

To his embarrassment, Ado was picked up by Dees and carried bridal style inside the apartment (he just _knew_ Dona would tell Boba about this). The droid carried him all the way to his room and gently laid Ado on the bed. The vigilante let out a sigh of relief as he saw that his armor and blade had been stored inside his armor locker. Boba had been telling the truth, Dona did manage to get his armor back. Once Ado was settled in, Dona mentioned having some work to do for a client and left, wishing him well. Dees stated he would be in the kitchen preparing dinner if Ado needed anything, leaving the vigilante alone with only Nox for company.

Ado sighed and rolled his eyes, shooting the kaleesh a wry grin “Yeesh, they’re treating me like I’m made of glass.”

Nox shrugged and grabbed the chair from Ado’s desk, sitting down next to the bed. “That’s what happens when you’ve been tortured for days on end. People worry about you.” His expression grew grim beneath his mask “How are you feeling?”

Ado waved off Nox’s concern “I’m fine, really.” He sat up, ignoring the pain that shot up his sides “A little sore, but nothing a few days’ rest won’t fix. I’ll be back out there in no time.”

For a moment, Nox didn’t say anything, then “Maybe… maybe you should wait a little longer than a few days. Just to be safe.”

Ado frowned “I can’t afford to do that. With Forkub gone there’s a power vacuum in the Crush. Someone needs to make sure the people aren’t hurt in the crossfire.”

Nox narrowed his eyes, examining Ado intently as he growled out “…You haven’t learned _anything_ from all of this have you?”

Ado blinked, caught off guard by the kaleesh’s tone. “I’m… not sure I understand what you mean.”

Nox snorted and crossed his arms “Don’t bullshit me. You know damn well exactly what I’m talking about.”

Ado winced, he suppose he did after all. Looking away, the vigilante sighed “You think I should give up this whole ‘heroics’ thing don’t you?” Ado shook his head, and before Nox could answer said “I knew going in that there was always a possibility of it ending with my head on a spike.” He hesitated “I’m… I’m fine with that… as long as I can make other people’s lives better…”

There was a brief silence before Nox said “Maybe you should care more about your _own_ life first.”

Ado chuckled sardonically “ _Why_? I accepted a long time ago that I wasn’t ever going to get a happy ending. ”

He looked back to Nox and was caught off guard by the kaleesh’s burning glare. “Who the _fuck_ told you that bullshit!” Nox snarled.

Ado hesitated. He really didn’t want to tell anyone, but the promise he made to Dona all those weeks ago echoed through his head: _Talk to someone about it._ Internally wincing, Ado lay back and stared up at the ceiling. “To be honest… no one. At least, not explicitly. I sort of figured it out on my own. People like me… we’re not meant for a happy ending…”

Nox clearly noticed the vigilante’s shift in demeanor “Why do I get the feeling you’re not talking about being a vigilante?”

Ado took a deep breath and lowered his gaze. He felt like he was going to be sick. He’d only ever explicitly revealed this to one person before: his father. He knew the rest of the galaxy wasn’t like Valdera, but he still… “I’m… I’m… a…” He… he couldn’t do this… “I’m sorry… I can’t…”

For a moment, a heavy silence lay the room, crushing down on Ado’s chest, making it difficult to breathe. Then, Ado felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked over to see Nox giving him a sympathetic look “You don’t need to tell me anything if you don’t want to.” He cleared his throat “I’m… I’m guessing this isn’t exactly something easy for you to talk about.”

Ado winced “Yeah… you could say that.”

Nox nodded “Right.” He gave Ado’s shoulder one last squeeze and stood up “I’ll let you rest. Dona would probably flay me alive if I gave you an anxiety attack while you’re still on bedrest. Oh, and Ado?” Nox stopped at the door, shooting the vigilante one last look “Your life is more valuable than you give yourself credit for. Just… don’t go throwing it away…” He sighed “Anyways… See ya later.”

“See ya,” Ado said back. Once Nox was gone, Ado sighed and stared up at the ceiling, mind a tumultuous storm.

He was pathetic.

…

Boba stood in Jabba’s court, arms folded over his chest as he stared down the hutt. While he’d been on Nar Shaddaa, a rival crime lord here on Tatooine had had the _brilliant_ idea to ransack one of Jabba’s spice shipments. Naturally, Jabba had decided to make an example out of him. “Do you want him dead or alive?”

“Dead…” the hutt rumbled “Just be sure to bring his head to me.”

There was a time when such a request would have disgusted Boba -he wasn’t exactly _fond_ of decapitation after what happened to his father- but now all he did was nod. “Easy enough. Do you want me to grab a stake for you to put it on as well, or shall I leave that to your errand boy?” He made a point of looking at Bib Fortuna as he said this, making the advisor bristle.

Jabba chuckled “Heh… no Fett, that won’t be necessary. Just bring the head back here. You may dispose of the rest of him however you please.”

Recognizing that he was dismissed, Boba gave his boss a quick nod and turned to leave when he heard Jabba’s booming voice call out, “Oh, one more thing bounty hunter.”

That didn’t bode well. Stopping mid step, Boba looked over his shoulder at the hutt. “What? Do you want me to pick up a new chew toy for your rancor while I’m out too? I told you I’m not doing that again.”

The hutt’s lipless mouth curled into a savage grin “No… No… It’s just I hear you have been spending a great deal of time on Nar Shaddaa recently.”

Boba’s blood froze in his veins, but he forced himself to remain calm. He could show no weakness, especially not here. “And? Last time I checked what I did in my spare time is _my_ business, not yours.”

Jabba laughed “Oh, ho, ho! Bounty hunter… you should know by now that _everything_ my men do is _my_ business.”

Boba turned around, hands clenching into fists “And _you_ should know by now that I’m _not_ one of ‘your men’. You don’t own me, Jabba.” This was a conversation they’d had many times before. Jabba liked to think that he controlled Boba, while Boba knew that, even though he worked for the hutt often, he was not one of his grunts.

“Oh?” Jabba’s eyes narrowed. “Well, then consider this as an inquiry from a friend.” Boba wisely decided not to point out that they weren’t friends. “My sources tell me that there are rumors you have a… shall we say _associate_ , that has been staying in that nice little apartment I gave you. And this _associate_ apparently causes quite a lot of trouble for the local criminal element. Tell me, Boba.” Jabba leaned forward “You aren’t keeping _secrets_ from me are you?”

Boba’s heart was pounding in his chest. Jabba was always looking for more resources, and anything he couldn’t acquire, he disposed of. If Jabba found out about Ado, then he might try and strong-arm him into working for the vile hutt, and when the vigilante inevitably refused, Boba had no doubt that _he_ would be the one ordered to dispose of him. Making sure to keep his voice even, Boba lied “No.”

Jabba inspected the bounty hunter for a moment “I see. Well, I’m sure it was probably nothing. Rumors are just rumors after all.” He smiled “I’m sure someone of your intelligence would never allow himself to be weighed down by such a… _liability_.”

“Are we done here?” Boba said gruffly, “I have a dead man to decapitate.”

Jabba dismissed Boba, and as the bounty hunter left the court, he tried in vain to calm his racing heart. That had been far too close. He wouldn’t be able to keep Ado hidden for much longer. He should never have let himself get so close to the vigilante. Now _both_ of them were in trouble.

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I think this story will have 21 chapters and an epilogue. We're probably only getting one more sex scene in the story proper, but I think I might add on the sex scenes I cut as bonus chapters once the story in finished. How does that sound?
> 
> I should probably have stated this previously, but this story does not take place in either the old or new EUs, rather I'm borrowing a bit of both for this so that I have more freedom. 
> 
> Also, I had originally intended to have Ado fully reveal his backstory in this chapter, but I decided to hold off on it for now.
> 
> As always, please let me know what you think.


	15. A Rough Parting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was hard to write...

Ado suppressed a sigh as he watched Nox converse with a twi’lek and a human outside a club tucked into a small street corner. He’d managed to keep several criminal elements from trying to fill the void left by Forkub after the hutt’s demise, but all that meant was that the power struggle in the Crush continued. Street gangs were rising and falling so fast Ado couldn’t keep track of them all, and innocent people were constantly getting caught in the crossfire. Ado knew he couldn’t be everywhere and save everyone, but the loss of life still weighed heavily on him. Nox had suggested using the various guards businesses in the Crush employed to form an organized militia, but they’d had little success. It was all a tremendous mess, but the thing that was _really_ bothering Ado didn’t have to do with the Crush at all…

It had been four months since Boba had last been on Nar Shaddaa. Ado was starting to worry that something had happened, the bounty hunter hadn’t even _contacted_ him or Dona in all that time. It was only thanks to Dona using her contacts to gather information that they even knew Boba was still alive. Ado knew Boba had said he wouldn’t be able to return for a while, but he’d expected him to at least keep in touch. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised, but after Boba had rescued him Ado had thought maybe… maybe things between them were different. Better. Like they were, if nothing else, _friends_. Was he wrong?

Ado was pulled from his musings by Nox returning to his side. “Any luck?” The vigilante asked.

Nox shook his head. “Bunch of cowards, the lot of them. They’re too content with the way things are to try and change it.” The kaleesh sighed “This was a stupid idea. I guess even guards are too timid to take a stand.”

“ _You’re_ not.” Ado pointed out.

Nox smirked beneath his mask “Yeah, but I have _you_ to thank for that. I guess your damn optimism has just rubbed off on me.”

Ado’s lips twitched into a small smile beneath his visor. “Well then, you should know that I’m not giving up just yet. _Someone_ is bound to start listening sooner or later.”

Nox rolled his eyes “Whatever you say Sunny Sickle. I’m gonna head back home and get some shuteye, my shift at the clinic starts in a few hours and I doubt Dand’d be happy if I fell asleep on the job.”

Ado nodded, “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Stay safe.”

Nox waved him off “Yeah, yeah, you too.”

While Nox went home, Ado spent a few more hours patrolling the Crush through the shadows. This night seemed to be quieter than most, he only had to intervene in a couple muggings. Before long, Ado started to feel his own exhaustion creep up on him, and decided that he’d call it a night. He returned to where he’d stashed his speeder and took off into the city. As he neared the landing pad for his apartment, Ado felt his heart skip a beat. The _Slave I_ was parked on the pad. That meant…

_Boba’s home._

In an instant, Ado’s exhaustion evaporated, replaced with giddy jubilation. As quickly as he could, Ado parked his speeder and rushed inside. Sure enough, Boba was there, standing with his back to the door in the middle of the lounge in full armor, inspecting a small hologram on the coffee table. He didn’t turn around when the door opened, in fact he didn’t react to Ado’s arrival at all, he just continued staring at the hologram silently. Ado forced himself not to run over to Boba and pull him into a hug, he doubted the bounty hunter would appreciate that. It was surprisingly difficult, they hadn’t seen each other in so long. Ado was just so excited to finally see Boba again.

Pulling off his helmet and facemask, Ado said cheerfully “I was starting to wonder if you’d forgotten about me!”

Boba’s head turned ever so slightly, a vague acknowledgement of the vigilante’s presence. “Hm.”

Ado blinked, he knew Boba wasn’t exactly the most conversational person, but he’d at least expected a “hello” or something. “Well, good to see you too.” He placed his helmet on an nearby table and walked over to the bounty hunter, “What brings you back here?” he smirked, putting his hands on his hips. “Wait, let me guess. You missed me didn’t you?”

“I have a bounty.” Boba said gruffly, gesturing at the hologram. “That’s all.”

Ado’s brows furrowed. Something was off, this wasn’t Boba usual reserved act; it felt far too… _distant_. “Do you… do you want any help with it?” he asked cautiously.

“No.”

Ado frowned, but brushed that aside. Boba not wanting help with a bounty wasn’t _too_ odd for him. “Well, maybe once you’re done we can watch something together?” Ado said hopefully “I’ll even let you pick!”

“No.”

Ado cocked an eyebrow. The bounty hunter’s behavior was starting to unnerve him. “Is… is everything alright?”

“Yes.” Boba said a little too sharply, folding his arms over his chest and _still_ staring at the hologram. The bounty hunter hadn’t looked at him once since he arrived, if he didn’t know any better, Ado would have said Boba was trying to _avoid_ him.

“Are you _sure_?” Ado pressed “Because you don’t _sound_ alri-”

“I SAID I’M _FINE_!” Boba snapped, making Ado recoil. The bounty hunter took a deep breath, then reached down and snatched the hologram off the table, turning it off and stomping towards the door, saying gruffly “I have work to do.”

Ado was _definitely_ worried now. Before the bounty hunter could make his escape, Ado grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. “Boba, what’s going-”

The second Ado’s hand touched his shoulder, Boba flinched away, as if burned. Ado’s eyes went wide, shock and hurt twisting in his gut. The bounty hunter, still not looking at him, whispered “Please… just leave me alone.”

Ado blinked, he’d never heard Boba sound so… _vulnerable_ before… “What happened?” he pleaded. “Boba, did something happen with Jabba? Are you in trouble? Please, just let me-”

“ _Stop_.” Boba growled. “I don’t _want_ your help. I don’t _need_ your help! So just _shut the fuck up_!”

Ado winced and looked away. “I-I’m sorry… I just… I’m worried about you. You don’t even contact me for _months_ and when you finally show up you act like _this_ …” he shook his head “I’m sorry. I guess… after what happened with Forkub I thought… I thought maybe…” he sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Boba didn’t say anything for a moment and when he did his voice was barely more than a whisper. “This was a mistake… Go…”

Ado’s eyes widened and he looked at Boba in shock. “W-what? What do you…? Boba!” the bounty hunter turned away once more and was about to resume walking towards the door when, frantic, Ado grabbed his shoulders, this time holding fast when Boba tried to shy away. Ado turned the bounty hunter around. “Boba look at me!” Slowly, Boba’s helmet lifted, and Ado locked eyes with him through the visor as he asked “What _am_ I to you?”

Boba flinched, yet made no move to escape Ado’s grasp. Instead, he looked away once more as he whispered. “A liability.”

 Ado felt a sharp pain in his chest and he released Boba’s arms, stepping back. This… this didn’t make any sense. Why would he be a liability? Is it… is it because he got captured by Forkub? But why would Boba save him? Why would he… Ado thought Boba _cared_. Was… was he wrong? Shoulders slumping, Ado suddenly found himself unable to look at Boba anymore. “So that’s it? After everything it’s just… over?”

Boba turned away once more “Go…” he said quietly. “Just… just take your things and go…”

As Boba walked towards the door, Ado asked lamely “What… what about the payments?” What a stupid question. Of all the things he could have asked he chose _that_? Pathetic.

Boba stopped momentarily in the doorway “Whatever. I don’t care.”

And with that, Boba was gone, leaving Ado standing in the apartment all alone…

…

It was done.

Boba had expected to feel relief, or satisfaction, when he finally severed ties with Ado; the Great Boba Fett had no more weaknesses. Instead, all he felt was sick. He’d returned to the apartment a few hours later, having finished his contract swiftly, to find it drearily empty. A small part of him had been hoping that Ado would have stayed anyways, but it was not to be. The vigilante had listened, taking all of the meager possessions he’d brought with him and vanishing into the night. Knowing that Ado would never again set foot in the apartment had made Boba acutely aware just how empty it truly was. It all felt hollow, cold. Somehow, Ado had turned that boring apartment into something warm and full, something like…

 _Home_.

Boba suddenly found himself unable to stay. There were too many memories tied to this place now. As fast as he could, he got in the _Slave I_ and flew away into the atmosphere, up, up until the Smuggler’s Moon was naught but a tiny spec behind him. At one point, he noticed he had a new message from Dona, but Boba couldn’t bring himself to open it. He deleted the message without looking and sat back, simply flying into the great void.

Boba stared down at the controls. Suddenly he was nine again, his father guiding him through flying in orbit above Kamino. He could almost imagine his father voice, rough yet soothing as he told Boba what to do, showed him how the ship responded to his touch. Idly, Boba wondered what Jango would say to him if he could see his son right now… Would he approve? Would he agree that Boba was right to cut off ties to Ado? Maybe he’d have insisted Boba should have killed the vigilante, to make sure that weakness was gone for good. After all, isn’t that what Jango himself did to…

Boba blinked as something wet rolled down his cheek. He snarled, pulling off his helmet and wiping away the wetness. Boba Fett did not _cry_. He was not that _weak_.

Boba sighed and leaned back, letting the ship’s auto-pilot take over for a while as he closed his eyes. Things were better this way. Just him, alone against the galaxy, as it had always been, and as it always would be. He didn’t need friends. He didn’t need _Ado_. He was perfectly fine on his own.

He was fine.

He was fine.

 _He was_ -

 _Beep_.

Boba blinked open his eyes. Looking at the console, he saw that an automated alert he’d set up on the Solo bounty had pinged. Brows furrowing, Boba opened the notification. Somebody better not have stolen that bounty out from under him, he did _not_ need that added onto things today. His eyebrows raised as he read through the update. It seemed the Empire was hiring bounty hunters to track down the _Millennium Falcon_. Boba forced himself to smirk and input the coordinates for the rendezvous. This was just what he needed, a nice hunt to take his mind off of things. As the _Slave I_ jumped to hyperspace, Boba put his helmet back on, readying himself for the hunt to come.

He was a bounty hunter.

He was Boba Fett.

He was fine.

He was fine...

Something wet rolled down his cheek, but this time, Boba didn’t have the heart to wipe it away.


	16. A Kindred Spirit

“I should have known I’d find you here.”

Ado sighed as he heard a familiar voice behind him. “Not now, Dona.”

He was standing on the top of a skyscraper that gave him a distant view of the apartment he’d spent over a year living in. Ado had found himself coming here almost every day for the last seven months. He knew it was stupid. He should just forget about Boba and everything that had happened between them. Doing this was just making it harder for him to move on. Ado knew this, and yet…

“He still isn’t back yet huh?” Dona said, moving up to stand next to Ado.

“No…” Ado shook his head “Why would he be?”

Dona didn’t answer, simply silently staring off into the night. Ado closed his eyes beneath his visor, letting the sounds of the city wash over him. Long minutes passed them by like the speeders in the skylanes below until finally, Dona spoke up “Are you okay?”

Ado opened his eyes and looked over at the twi’lek “I’m… I’m managing. I’ll get over it eventually.”

Dona looked at him for a moment, ever-observant eyes searching for something in the cold visage of Ado’s helm. After a moment, Dona sighed “I really wish that dumbass Mando would hurry up and get back here so I can punch him in the face.”

Ado couldn’t help but smirk “Well, now you know why he hasn’t: he’s clearly terrified of you.”

Dona let out a small chuckle “And with good reason. I’ve still got that commercial for blackmail.” She flashed Ado a grin “Just _imagine_ how damaging to his reputation it would be if it _accidentally_ got leaked onto the holonet.”

“It would ruin his career.” Ado agreed.

After a moment, Dona sighed and, shooting the apartment one last look, patted Ado on the shoulder and made her way back to where she’d parked her speeder. “I’ll leave you to your vigil, just don’t stay out too long. Goodness knows I don’t need Nox calling me in a panic again because you stayed out too late.”

Ado bid Dona farewell and watched her take off, dipping recklessly down into the skylanes, earning a few irritated honks from the other drivers. Once her speeder was out of sight, Ado returned his gaze to the empty apartment. Ado refused to allow himself to sink into melancholy. For the first month after Boba had kicked him out he’d been depressed, the bounty hunter constantly on his mind. He’d found it difficult to motivate himself to do much of anything, even his work in the Crush had felt meaningless. All he could think about was where he’d gone wrong with the bounty hunter. Had he overstepped his bounds? Had he just assumed their relationship was something more than it really was? Or had he shown such a complete disregard for how Boba felt that the bounty hunter had decided to end it to spare himself more pain? Eventually, Ado had to force himself to stop dwelling on these questions and the ache in his chest had faded into the background, though it never really went away, allowing him to finally start focusing on other things once again.

Ado checked the time on his HUD, it was time for him to head back. Giving the apartment one last look, Ado turned away and got into his speeder, shooting off into the city. The ride back to the Crush was thankfully a quiet one. Ado set his speeder down on a landing pad jutting out the side of a large, blocky structure squished beneath the plate that made up the district’s roof. This was the headquarters of the Crush’s new militia.

Over the last few months, Ado had managed to make a fair amount of progress in the district. At Dand’s suggestion, he and Nox had switched to persuading the business owners in the Crush that there needed to be an actual militia to protect them from the constant gang violence. Sure enough, it was a lot easier to convince the owners to invest in the militia than it was to convince the guards to join it. And once they had finances to build on, the guards to fill their ranks soon followed, lured by the prospect of a more secure job and better gear. Ado genuinely felt like an idiot for not thinking of the money aspect sooner. The militia in Vapor Town had largely set itself up once Night Edge had driven out the worst of the crime, so actually starting a militia himself was a new experience.

Stepping into the building, Ado made himself small as he headed towards the room he’d commandeered. After he got kicked out of Boba’s place, Ado had spent some time sleeping on Nox’s couch, but once they’d gotten the headquarters for the militia picked out, he’d taken custody of a small room in the corner of the building to use as his safehouse. It was barely bigger than a closet, but it was out of the way, giving him some privacy as more and more guards joined the militia’s ranks. Stepping inside his room, Ado quickly stripped out of his armor and changed into a set of casual fatigues before heading off again to find Nox.

As he’d expected, the kaleesh was busy in the bullpen, giving the assembled guards their orders for the day. Ado stayed in the corner, letting Nox finish undisturbed. Once he had given out the last order, the kaleesh walked over to Ado, sighing heavily “You know, a year ago this was _not_ what I imagined I would be doing.”

Ado suppressed a grin. Nox had somehow ended up becoming the de facto leader of the militia, much to the kaleesh’s supposed irritation. Still, Ado knew his friend wasn’t as grumpy about this turn of events as he appeared to be. In fact, he’d risen to the challenge quite well. He’d done a lot to make sure the militia was a respectable organization, not just another gang trying to run a protection racket. Ado smiled “You’ve changed a lot since we met.”

Nox snorted and looked away “Well… I guess your optimism had to rub off on me in some way.” He glanced back over to Ado “For the record, I still think ‘Night Edge’ is a stupid name.”

Ado couldn’t help but chuckle. The way things were going, it wouldn’t be too long before the Crush was actually a decent place to live. In fact… Ado had a sudden realization “Pretty soon you guys won’t even need me anymore.”

Nox blinked and frowned beneath his mask “Wait… what are you saying?”

Ado shrugged “Nothing, I just think you and the militia are getting a real handle on things here. Sooner or later I’ll just be getting in the way. When that time comes, I’ll be sure to leave you guys to it.”

Nox’s eyes went wide and he forcefully grabbed Ado’s shoulders. “Wait, what?! Y-You can’t just _leave_!”

Ado blinked, caught off-guard by his friend’s reaction “I didn’t say I was disappearing _tomorrow_ , I’m not going to leave you high and dry here. Only once I’m certain you guys can take care of yourselves will I go.” He shrugged “Besides, who even knows when that will be? It could be years before I go.” He smiled “Don’t worry, you’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

Nox didn’t seem fully convinced by Ado’s words. Still gripping the vigilante’s shoulders, he asked “Where will you go?”

Ado hesitated. Where _would_ he go? It took him _months_ to find someplace else to clean up after Vapor Town, and that was with _help_. “I… I don’t know.” He admitted. “I’ll probably try to find a new place to clean up like I did with the Crush.”

“You could stay.” Nox pointed out “You already have a place here. You don’t _need_ to leave…”

Ado sighed, this really wasn’t the time to talk about this. “I’ll… I’ll think about it.” He lied.

Nox stared into Ado’s eyes for a long moment, searching for something. Finally, he released Ado’s shoulders and muttered “Right…”

…

Days passed, the militia continued their work, and Ado watched as step-by-step, the Crush transformed into something new, something… _safe_. He was proud of them all, truly, he was. He rarely needed to intervene in a mugging or stop a robbery anymore. Things were really starting to look up, and Ado was left with a surprising amount of free time on his hands. Like clockwork, he visited the rooftop with the view of Boba’s apartment every day, and still there was no sign of the bounty hunter’s return.

Then, one day, he found someone waiting for him.

She was an older human woman with pale, wrinkled, skin, and long white hair flowing freely in the wind. She wore a violet jacket over a white dress and held a matching purse in her hands. She wore a pair of opaque shades over her eyes as she looked out into the city. Cautiously, Ado landed his speeder next to what he assumed was the woman’s own and got off, warily approaching her. Not once in the seven months he’d been visiting had anyone else been up on this roof, there was simply no reason for them to be.

Before he got too close, the strange woman said “This is a lovely view, I can see why you come here, ‘Night Edge’.”

Ado froze. So this woman knew who he was. That wasn’t a good sign. “May I help you?” He said cautiously.

The woman hummed, still not looking at him “Perhaps, I’d heard that someone was running around in Phantom Vanguard armor and I just had to see for myself if it was true.”

Ado tensed. She knew about the Phantom Vanguard? How could she possibly…? “Who are you?” He asked, readying himself for a fight.

Glancing over her shoulder, the woman laughed “Isn’t it obvious?” Turning around, the strange woman pulled her shades off her face, and Ado was suddenly met with a set of familiar violet eyes…

“You’re a Valderan…” Ado breathed, not quite able to believe it.

The woman smiled “As are you I presume?”

Still trying to wrap his head around what he was seeing, Ado nodded, lifting up his hands to remove his helmet and facemask. “Y-Yeah… how… who…?”

The woman smiled “My name is Yra, I left Valdera many decades ago.”

Ado frowned, he’d remembered hearing the name Yra before, but he couldn’t quite place where. “I’m… I’m Ado… Ado Janic. I’m sorry I’m just… I never thought I’d see another Valderan again.”

Yra nodded, “Understandable, I hadn’t either, and especially not a man at that. That’s why I came to find you.” She gestured for Ado to join her looking out into the city.

Ado blinked, still not entirely sure what to think, but complied. He’d been expecting to feel anger, or fear, in the unlikely event he ever met another one of his race out here, but all he felt was a faint, throbbing sadness in his chest, a dull longing that left a small hole in his heart. “What… what are you doing out here?”

“The same thing as you I imagine.” Yra said, gazing out over the city “I wasn’t happy with the way things were and, unable to change them, I left.” Ado blinked. That wasn’t _exactly_ why he’d fled Valdera, but it was pretty close. Yra continued “I knew that my sister seers would never understand how I felt.”

Ado’s eyes widened, his voice dripping with disbelief as he said “You’re… you’re a seer?” The seers were the great advisors of Valderan culture. They had a bond with the All-Mother that allowed them to perceive fragments of the ever-shifting future and advise the people of Valdera on the best course of action. Ado had made sure to have as few interactions with them as he could, they always seemed to know far more than they should, and for one with something to hide like him, that was unnerving.

Yra flashed a small smile at him, and Ado had a feeling she could sense his sudden unease. “Yes, though I don’t practice it much these days.” She paused, turning to stare at Ado fully before saying “You have that gift too, you know. I see it in you, as clear as the city before us. It’s faint, _very_ faint, but it’s there.”

Ado’s brain short-circuited. “That’s… that’s not possible…” he stepped back, shaking his head “I’ve _never_ seen the future and men… men can’t become seers.”

Yra rolled her eyes, “ _Ugh_ , that old rule. They still haven’t changed that then?” She shook her head “It doesn’t matter. Perhaps you’ve yet to glimpse the future but that doesn’t matter, neither had I until I had been trained. Perhaps your gift has manifested in other forms.” She looked into Ado’s eyes “Out here they call people like us ‘Force-sensitive’. There was even an entire Order filled with our kind.”

Ado was familiar with it, even for someone as ill-informed as he was it was pretty hard not to have heard about the Jedi. But… he _couldn’t_ be… “Why are you here?” he asked warily.

Yra studied him for a long moment, dissecting him with her eyes piece by piece before she finally said “The Empire has conquered Valdera.”

Ado’s heart stopped. Why would the Empire bother with a small, backwards world like Valdera? What happened to the people? Was his father alright? Was he even _alive_?

Yra seemed to notice Ado’s fear. “Yes, I had a similar reaction when I heard about it. I’m intending to return and help our people liberate themselves. I was wondering if you, a fellow Valderan, especially a member of the Phantom Vanguard, would be willing to help.”

Ado hesitated, looking down. A part of him wanted to say yes, but the idea of going back _willingly_ , even if it was to help, was revolting to him. If he went back, then Ado was certain the Valderans would never let him leave again. “I-I can’t.” he stammered out “I’m…” Ado braced himself “I’m… I’m a sinner…”

Yra was silent for a moment “You’ll have to be a _bit_ more specific dear. I’m sure whatever crimes you committed would be forgiven if you helped liberate our people from-”

“I’m a _cara-dava_!” Ado was horrified. He hadn’t meant to blurt it out, but now that he had, he knew it could never be taken back.

Too his surprise, Yra did not react with disgust, or anger, or even sadness, instead what Ado saw in her eyes when he finally looked up again, was compassion. “They really haven’t changed have they? I’m so sorry…”

Ado winced “It’s… it’s not something _you_ need to apologize for. It’s my fault I’m like this…”

“ _No_.” Yra emphatically shook her head “You can’t help who you are, dear. There’s no reason you should have _ever_ felt ashamed.” She sighed and looked back out over the city “I’m apologizing because… had I stayed and fought for what I believed in instead of running away because it seemed hopeless, things might have been better for people like you…”

Ado suddenly realized where he’d heard the name Yra before. “They told us about you.” he said “They called you a traitor and a heathen.” His brows furrowed “ _Why_ would you ever want to go back?”

Yra smiled sadly, “Because for all its faults, I still love my home dearly, and I do not wish to see it crushed beneath the Empire’s heel.” She looked back at Ado “I came to ask for your help, but now that I stand before you…” She paused, their violet eyes locking “I believe that your journey is different from mine.”

Ado blinked “What… what do you mean?”

Yra took Ado’s hands in hers “I sense great conflict within you, you find yourself at a crossroads, and you don’t know what to do.” She smiled “I’m a bit out of practice, but if you would like, I could glimpse into the future for you, and advise you how to proceed.”

Ado hesitated, he’d never actually received advice from a seer before. It was usually something reserved only for the most important of people. It was… genuinely frightening, but still…“A-Alright…” Ado said before he could lose his nerve. “Do it.”

Yra smiled once more and closed her eyes. After a long moment, she spoke “I see that your future has many paths before it. You could continue as you are now… but you could become something greater.” Ado’s brows furrowed in confusion but he allowed her to continue uninterrupted. “There is a young man,” she said “a seer like you and I. He will try to reform the Jedi very soon, and he will need students. Perhaps it is with his new Order that you will find your destiny.” She paused. “Or… perhaps not.” Ado frowned, but before he could ask what she meant Yra continued “Your heart aches, you long for someone dearly, someone who lurks in shadow.” She opened her eyes “You could be his light, and he yours, but soon you will have a choice to make, to leave him in darkness, or reach down and pull him from the belly of the beast.” A small smile touched her lips “Though, perhaps for you, it isn’t even a choice at all.” She looked into Ado’s eyes “Yes… I suppose you already know in your heart what your answer will be. I think you will find happiness together, so long as you both are willing to accept it.” With that, she released Ado’s.

Ado was stunned “You’re… you’re talking about Boba aren’t you?”

Yra shrugged “I didn’t get a name, only a face. If that is who you believe I meant, then trust yourself.” She blinked and placed a hand to her temple “Oh… oh dear… I was _not_ expecting that to give me a headache. I really _am_ out of practice…”

“Sorry…” Ado said sheepishly.

Yra smiled “Don’t worry about it, it was my pleasure to help you.” With that she made her way over to where her speeder was parked. “I should be going, I need to return to Valdera as soon as possible. I wish you luck Ado.”

Ado hesitated for only a moment before calling after her. “Wait.” She looked over her shoulder at him, cocking an eyebrow inquisitively. “When… when you get to Valdera… if… if you have the time…” he took a deep breath. “Could… could you look up someone named Tyr Janic? If he’s…” his voice caught in his throat “If he’s alive… could you tell him… could you tell him I’m alright?”

Yra’s expression softened “Of course, child…”

As she got into her speeder, Ado asked “Will we meet again?”

Yra gave Ado one last smile and replaced her shades on her head “Perhaps. I hope so.”

…

When he returned to the militia’s headquarters, Ado’s head was still spinning. He’d just met another Valderan, but not just any Valderan, a _seer_! _And_ he learned that he apparently was a seer too! (Or ‘Force-sensitive’, whatever that meant.) It was all so… unbelievable. He didn’t really know what to think to be honest. Add the fact that he’d just learned his homeworld had been conquered by the Empire, and Ado felt like he really needed a chance to sit down and process all of this.

Unfortunately, he didn’t get that chance.

Dona was waiting outside his room, frantically pacing back and forth. The moment she saw him, Dona rushed forward, exclaiming “ _There_ you are! Listen, I need your help!”

Ado’s brows furrowed “With what? What’s wrong?”

Dona’s eyes were wide with panic as she said “It’s Boba…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn't obvious, the entirety of this story up to chapter 15 took place between ANH and ESB. With 15, we finally reached ESB, and with this chapter, we are jumping forward to ROTJ, and you all know what happens to Boba in that one...
> 
> Also, a note about Ado being force-sensitive: I was actually sort of reluctant to put that in, but I have a very vague idea for a sequel featuring Han, Luke, and Leia, so I'm leaving that plot thread in, as well as the nod to Luke's new Jedi Order just in case I ever around to it. I'll say that, on a scale of 1-10 on how strong he is in the force, with 1 being the average Joe and 10 being Anakin, Ado's probably a 3. But let me know if that makes him too much of a Gary Stu and I'll remove it.
> 
> (As I have stated before, this story does not take place in Legends or the new canon, but rather borrows elements of both. This means that the ST films sadly do not happen... at least, not in the same way they did in the movies...)
> 
> So... feel free to let me know what you thought of this and the last chapter. Did you like the new details we got about Valdera?


	17. A Scarred Survivor

Boba swore as his feet slipped on the sand as he tried to climb a dune, sending him tumbling back down to the bottom. For a moment Boba simply lay there in the sand, wondering for the millionth time why he was even bothering. Most of his equipment was inoperable, he’d even lost his jetpack escaping from the sarlacc. His coms were too damaged to be of use, so he couldn’t call for help or get the _Slave I_ ’s autopilot to come pick him up. While his armor had protected him from most of the sarlacc’s paralytic toxin, some of it had still managed to infect him, leaving Boba feeling incredibly sluggish. Worse of all however, his armor was starting to fall apart. While the metal was fine, (there wasn’t much that could destroy Mandalorian Iron) the sarlacc’s stomach acid and the flames of his escape had eaten away at the fabric holding his armor together, and Boba knew it was only a matter of time before pieces started falling off.

Grunting, Boba forced himself back to his feet and decided to just walk around the dune instead of trying to surmount it. To be honest, he didn’t even know _where_ he was walking. Jabba’s palace was dozens, if not hundreds of miles away, and as far as Boba knew, he wasn’t even walking in the direction of the nearest settlement. There were no landmarks to guide him, just an endless sea of sand. Not even the twin suns above were of any use, Boba simply didn’t know the lay of this part of Tatooine very well. All he could hope was that if he kept heading north, he’d eventually find the Palace.

Boba managed to finally get around the dune, only to find another, larger one blocking is path. If he had the energy, he might have screamed, but Boba simply settled for a small sigh and started walking around this one as well. He was going to die in this accursed sandy Hell. It was really only a question of _what_ finished him off. Would he die of thirst? Heat stroke? Be buried alive in a sandstorm? Would a band of Sand People find and finish him off? Maybe if the universe _really_ hated him he’d stumble upon a Krayt Dragon. Yeah, that would be _fun_.

Boba continued his long trek, the suns beating down on him, exhaustion weighing down his limbs, and found his thoughts drifting. How long had he been in the sarlacc? A day at least. Jabba’s barge was destroyed, and the hutt presumably along with it. That’d leave a massive power vacuum in the underworld that would be felt for _decades_ after. Boba was almost sorry that he’d miss it, it would have been interesting to watch at the very least.

Hopefully Ado wouldn’t get caught up in it.

Boba snarled. He’d pushed that _dammed_ vigilante from his mind ever since he ended things between them. Why was he thinking of him _now_ of all times? It didn’t make sense! Yet he couldn’t help wondering what Ado was doing that moment. How were things going in the Crush? Had Ado moved on to another district already? Where was he staying? Did he miss-

Boba gripped his head in his hands. He had to stop this. Ado wasn’t here, there was no point in dwelling on him. He needed to think of a way out of this mess, focus on something more relevant, like how he was going to _kick Han Solo’s ass_ if he ever saw him again. Yeah, revenge. That was good. That was reliable. He should focus on that.

_I wonder if Ado still watches that stupid cop show…_

_Dammit!_

He kept walking. Through the day, into the night, and all through the day once more. While he slipped and fell several more times, Boba refused to rest, even for a little while, lest he never get back up again. Thirst clung tightly to his throat, his mouth going dry. The heat was almost unbearable, crushing down on his shoulders, yet Boba bore it all the same, putting one foot in front of the other with determination. The suns were starting to set once more when Boba’s legs finally gave out and he planted face first into the sand. He suddenly found he didn’t have the energy to move anymore, his escape from the sarlacc, and wandering through the desert for over a day had taken too much out of him. He didn’t have any strength left.

Maybe… maybe if he took a quick rest… just for a minute…

…

Yra had been right. For Ado, it hadn’t been a choice.

The second Dona explained the situation, Ado had agreed to accompany her to Tatooine. Apparently, Jabba the Hutt was rumored to have been killed above the Great Pit of Carkoon by a small group of rebels, along with most of his entourage a few days ago. No one had seen sight of Boba Fett since then either, and his corpse wasn’t found among the wreckage. Dona was worried, and to be honest, Ado was too. He’d thought he was starting to get over Boba, but the mere thought that he was hurt, or _worse_ … it terrified him.

Since neither of them had a spaceship, they had taken a transport cruiser to Tatooine. The idea of a completely desert world was strange to him, but Ado didn't linger on that thought. Ado had quickly informed Nox he was leaving for a little bit and departed with Dona right away. It took two days for them to finally arrive on the desert world. They landed in Mos Eisley and Dona had rented them a skiff as well as directions to the Pit of Carkoon. Through all of this, Ado had barely said a word.

They arrived at the Pit half a day later. The wreckage of Jabba’s barge had long since been stripped away by scavengers. As their skiff hovered a safe distance above it, Ado looked down into the Pit and said dumbly “That’s… that’s a very big sarlacc…”

Standing at the controls, Dona nodded “Do you think you could pull him out if Boba’s in there?”

Ado felt an innate, primal, terror grip his chest, and forced it aside. “I have to.” He frowned beneath his helmet “But… I think I’ll need some help. The stomach is probably too big for me to climb out of.” He looked around the skiff and found a winch attached to the back. If he hooked himself to that, Dona could pull him and Boba back up.

Well… provided the sarlacc didn’t snap the cable before then.

Ado was just about to tell Dona his plan when he saw her looking at something at the edge of the pit. “What is it?” he asked, following her line of sight before his eyes went wide at what he saw: there, at the edge of the pit, were what looked like faint footprints.

Ado looked down at the sarlacc once more, noticing several details he’d missed in his initial shock at its size. There were burn marks on its beak and tentacles, probably from a flamethrower. Several teeth on one side of the pit had been torn out, and one tooth had even been used to spear a tentacle to the side of the pit. Whoever did this had been angry, fighting desperately to escape the beast.

When he looked back to Dona, her smirk was bright and beaming as she said. “The son of a bitch made it out.”

Ado nodded, relief briefly flooding him, only to soon be replaced with worry once more. “But… where is he now?”

Dona frowned, looking at the footprints then to the horizon “It looks like he was heading north. According to the map, Jabba’s palace is in that direction.”

“Then let’s follow the trail.” Ado said, taking position at the bow of the skiff. He didn’t know how long Boba could survive in the desert, but the sooner they found him the better.

With Ado keeping his eyes on the footprints, they followed the trail through the Dune Sea for hours. It looked like they had lucked out: the past few days hadn’t been too windy, so the footprints hadn’t gotten lost in the sand yet. Boba’s path was a winding one, and Ado soon realized that he’d long stopped heading north and was just wandering aimlessly. A few times it looked like Boba had fallen over, but always the trail continued, showing that the stubborn bounty hunter had gotten back up again.

More than once, Ado had spotted something glinting in the sand and called Dona to a halt. Each time, he’d found it only to be a stray piece of Boba’s armor that must have fallen off. Ado didn’t know whether he was grateful that he had definitive proof that they were following Boba’s trail, or terrified at what state the bounty hunter must be in for his armor to start falling apart. Ado knew how much Boba cared about his armor, that he had even left these pieces behind meant something was very, _very_ wrong.

The shadows had grown long, and Ado had been forced to tell Dona to stop. He simply couldn’t keep track of the trail anymore in the growing darkness. Their skiff came equipped with a tent for them to camp in, and after setting up and eating a dinner of ration bars, Dona had volunteered for taking the first watch. After all, they’d been warned about the many dangers lurking out in the Dune Sea, it was best to be cautious.

Reluctantly, Ado had gone to sleep, not even bothering to change out of his armor, only removing his helmet and facemask. His sleep was plagued with fitful dreams, a blur of memories and imagination that left him waking up in a cold sweat, unable to remember the details. He tried going back to sleep, but found his body unwilling to. Instead, he quietly exited the tent, and found Dona sitting in the skiff, bathed in moon and starlight while she watched the horizon.

Ado sighed and joined her in the skiff. Dona seemed to finally notice his presence and, looking away from the horizon, blinked at him slowly, exhaustion creasing the corners of her eyes. “Ado? Is it time for your shift already?”

Ado shook his head, sitting down next to her. “No… I… I couldn’t sleep.”

Dona nodded mutely and turned her gaze back to the horizon. She’d unzipped the top half of her coveralls and tied the sleeves around her waist, revealing a black tank top and, curiously, a small charm dangling from a chain around her neck that her hand would occasionally reach up to fiddle with. Ado was tempted to ask about it, but remained quiet, not quite sure how to broach the topic.

After several minutes, he finally asked “What’s that charm around your neck?”

Dona blinked and looked down at her necklace “Oh, it’s nothing. Just some trash I found when I was a kid.”

Ado frowned, “Sorry, it’s just… the way you were fiddling with it I thought it was important to you or something.”

Dona chuckled “No, no. Nothing like that. I was just a kid growing up on the streets who thought a worthless piece of junk like this was valuable so I…” she chuckled “I tried to find the person it belonged to and return it to them. Boy was that a wakeup call, they snapped at me, telling me it was a stupid novelty item they’d thrown away on purpose. I felt like a complete idiot but…” A small smile touched her lips “I… I think that was the first time I realized how much I loved finding information, investigating, seeing what connections people had with one another.” She looked up at Ado “Now that I think about it… I actually met Boba only a few weeks after I found this.”

Ado cocked an eyebrow “Oh?”

Dona nodded “Yeah, he was just starting out, maybe only a few years older than me, and he needed information on a bounty. I had started to set up a nice little network of contacts among the other kids on the streets. I hadn’t really made much of a name for myself yet, but somebody must of pointed Boba in my direction because one day I found him standing outside the tent I was sleeping in at the time. He…” she stifled a giggle “He looked so _silly_. He was wearing armor way too big for him, like a kid playing dress-up.” Dona sighed “I think he was only thirteen at the time.”

Ado’s eyes widened, at thirteen he was only starting to consider enlisting in the academy. Boba had already been bounty hunting at that age? He couldn’t help but wonder why the bounty hunter had never mentioned it before. Then, Ado instantly felt stupid. Of _course_ Boba had never mentioned it to him. How much of his _own_ past had Ado refrained from discussing with Boba? Did they _really_ know one another all that well?

Dona continued “After that, I saw him a few more times over the next few years. We both became more established in our fields and…” she paused, staring at the horizon “And I think we became… friends… at some point.” She shrugged “I guess we both just understood one another: we’d both lost our parents too young, and we’d both had to struggle to survive. I don’t know.”

Ado noticed that Dona’s mood had suddenly turned somber and decided that was enough talk for now. “You should get some rest,” he said softly “I can watch for the rest of the night.”

For a moment, Dona didn’t move, and Ado started to wonder if maybe she hadn’t heard him. Then, Dona said quietly “We’ll find him, right?”

Ado did not give voice to his own fears: that they might never find Boba, that they would never know what happened to him, that Ado would never see him again… Instead, took hold of Dona’s hand and said firmly. “Yeah, we will…”

Dona had gone to bed without another word, and Ado eventually found himself sitting on top of a sand dune above their camp, watching as the three moons sank towards the horizon. Eventually, the suns rose and bathed the sands in light. Ado watched in wonder as the dawn set the Dune Sea ablaze in red, orange, and yellow flame. It was like nothing he’d ever seen before, He’d never paid much attention to the sunrises on Valdera, and the sunrises of Nar Shaddaa, while beautiful in their own way, were always tainted by smog and traffic. For a moment, Ado couldn’t help but wonder: What else had he been missing this whole time?

He remembered Yra’s words, how he was supposedly “Force-sensitive” or something like that. Ado didn’t really know what that meant, or how he could use it, but for a brief moment, as he bathed in the light of the rising suns, he thought he felt it: life. Even on a world as barren as Tatooine, was all around him, and in that moment, Ado closed his eyes, and wondered if this was what being embraced by the All-Mother felt like. If he really _could_ feel this then perhaps… perhaps Ado wasn’t as sinful a man as he’d believed…

Perhaps…

_Wait… is that…?_

Ado’s eyes snapped open, and the moment passed. He could no longer feel the All-Mother’s embrace, but that was fine. He’d felt something, not too far off, something familiar, and he knew in his heart what it was.

_Boba…_

Instantly Ado sprang to his feet. “Dona!” he called out, rushing down the dune towards their camp. “Dona I found- AGHH! KRIFF!” Ado’s feet slipped on the loose sand and he tumbled down the dune, cursing all of the way.

His cursing must have woken Dona up, because she was peeking out of the tent when Ado rolled to a stop. He could hear the concern in her voice as she asked “Are you alright?! Did something happen?!”

Ado shook the sand out of his hair and shot up, a bright smile on his face as he said “I know where Boba is!”

Dona hadn’t bothered questioning how Ado suddenly knew where Boba was. She quickly got ready, packed up their camp with Ado’s help, and climbed into the skiff, asking “Where to?”

Ado pointed towards where he’d sensed Boba “That way, about maybe a mile or two.”

Dona nodded and they shot over the dunes. Ado kept an eye out for any glimpse of the bounty hunter’s armor, and before too long, caught sight of something glinting in the sunlight.

“There!” he pointed, and as Dona steered the skiff closer, Ado’s heart stopped when he finally saw him…

Boba was lying facedown in the sand, as still as the grave. Ado jumped off the skiff before Dona had even started to slow to a stop and, landing hard on the sand, scrambled over to the bounty hunter motionless body. Ado was vaguely aware of Dona landing the skiff behind him as he reached Boba’s body and carefully flipped him over. Over half of Boba’s armor had fallen off, and Ado could see why, the fabric holding it together was either singed or rotting away and the patches of Boba’s skin that he could see were heavily burned. Taking Boba’s helmet off, Ado saw that the bounty hunter’s lips were chapped, his skin dry. It was only thanks to his small, wheezing breaths that Ado knew Boba was… somehow… miraculously… _still alive_.

As Ado sat Boba up in his arms, Dona rushed over to them, a canteen in her hands. Without needing to be prompted, she raised the lip of the canteen to Boba’s cracked lips and gently poured some water into his mouth. The bounty hunter reflexively swallowed the water, but still didn’t move. Ado felt tears he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding back start to well up and he gently pressed his forehead against Boba’s temple, releasing a choked sob of relief. Looking up, Ado could see that Dona too had tears in the corners of her eyes and was giving the bounty hunter a relieved smile.

“We need to get him out of here.” Ado said, cradling Boba in his arms as he stood up and walked towards the skiff.

Dona nodded and got to the controls, taking off once Ado and Boba were safely on board and shooting across the dunes back towards civilization. All through the trip back, Ado’s eyes never once left Boba’s still face.

_Just hold on a little longer Boba…_


	18. A Changing Galaxy

Boba’s eyes slowly cracked open, wincing at the light. The first thing he noticed was that he wasn’t lying on sand, but instead a stiff cot, with a flat, unfluffed pillow tucked beneath his head and a scratchy blanket flung over him. The next thing he noticed was that his throat wasn’t screaming out for water anymore, in fact, most of his body felt rather numb. Next, he realized he was no longer wearing what was left of his armor, instead he was in a simple patient’s gown, and there was an IV drip stuck into one of his arms.

The last thing he noticed was Ado, dozing in a chair next to his cot, one hand reached out to lightly grasp Boba’s own.

A tumultuous mix of emotions swirled within Boba: joy, anger, confusion, and that strange warmth blooming in his chest he’d tried so hard to forget about over these last few months. Opening his mouth, Boba tried to speak, what he would _say_ he wasn’t entirely sure, but his voice cracked and he found he couldn’t say anything. Still, it seemed to be enough. Ado stirred and, sleepily blinked his eyes open. It seemed to take the vigilante a moment to realize what he was seeing, but the moment he did, Ado’s eyes lit up and he was instantly fully awake.

“Boba!” He exclaimed happily “You’re finally awake!”

The bounty hunter blinked, still not entirely sure what the kriff was going on. He wanted to demand Ado explain what the hell he was doing here, where exactly “here” was, and (most importantly) _why was Ado holding his hand_ , but Boba’s voice still cracked and he couldn’t get any words out.

Ado, to his credit, seemed to realize this and grabbed a canteen from a nearby nightstand. Helping Boba sit up, Ado raised the canteen to Boba’s lips and he drank greedily. After a moment, Ado pulled the water away much to Boba’s chagrin, saying gently “Take it easy, you’re still pretty dehydrated, and the doctor said not to let you exert yourself too much.”

 _Doctor?_ Boba took a moment to look around the room they were in. It was fairly small, with the sandstone walls you typically saw on Tatooine, meaning they were still on-world. With his throat now wet, Boba was able to croak out “Where…?”

Ado helped Boba lie back down and said “A doctor’s office in Mos Eisley.” (Boba noticed Ado’s pronunciation of the name was pretty bad) “Dona and I brought you here after we found you in the Dune Sea.”

 _Dona’s here too?_ Boba stared at the sandstone ceiling, not certain what he was supposed to feel. He pushed petty emotions aside for the moment and said “I’m… numb… Why?”

Ado nodded “The doctor said that would be a side effect. You have a lot of burns, they had to put you in a bacta tank for a while. It’ll wear off in a few hours.” He flashed Boba a wry smile “Of course, you’ll probably start _wishing_ you were still numb then. Hopefully they put some painkillers in the IV drip.”

Boba nodded, digesting this information. He was starting to get a clearer picture of the situation. Still, that left him with one big question. “What… are _you_ … doing here…?”

Ado looked away “I… Dona heard about Jabba’s death and that you hadn’t been seen since and… we were worried… _I_ was worried… I had to come and find you…”

“ _Why_ …?” Boba asked. Hadn’t he been clear that he didn’t want _anything_ to do with the vigilante? That whatever was between them was _over_? Why would Ado come and find him after that?

For a long moment, Ado was silent. When he finally did speak, his voice was barely more than a whisper. “I’m… I’m still figuring that out myself… I just had to…”

Boba didn’t say anything, still staring at the sandstone ceiling, seeing patterns in the grain. His mind was still a little fuzzy and his head was starting to hurt a little bit. He was finding it difficult to focus on any single thing, there were too many different conflicting thoughts and feelings floating around his skull. Was he glad to see Ado again? Was he angry? He couldn’t really decide what the strange emotion bubbling in his chest was.

Trying to focus on something practical, Boba asked “Where’s my armor?”

Ado gestured to a bag sat in the corner of the room. “It was falling apart so we stuck it in there for now. We managed to recover the pieces that fell off while we were looking for you.” he frowned “I’m guessing the sarlacc has something to do with its condition?”

Boba grunted “Maybe.”

“How’d you escape?” Ado asked.

Boba shrugged, ignoring the brief flare of pain in his shoulders. “I don’t quite remember to be honest, it’s all a blur. I just… kept fighting until I got out.” He paused “I _think_ I exploded my jetpack in the process, I’m not sure.”

“That explains the burns.” Ado said.

Boba didn’t say anything, and once more they fell back into an awkward silence. Boba could tell that Ado wanted to say something to him, but the vigilante never made a move to speak. Eventually, Boba asked “Where’s Dona?”

Ado glanced towards the door “I think she’s out trying to get some information on what’s happening at Jabba’s Palace. We want to grab the _Slave I_ but Dona’s worried the place might be crawling with looters.”

Boba scowled at the thought of some lowly scavenger trying (and likely failing) to scrap his ship. “When can I leave? I want to get off this fucking planet.”

Ado frowned “Well… in theory you only need to stay here for a few more days, but you’ll probably be on bed rest for a week at least. Plus you probably won’t be able to do anything strenuous for a while either.”

Boba curled his lip at the thought of being out of action for that long. “ _Perfect_.” He noticed Ado staring at him curiously for a moment and irritably asked “What?”

Ado hesitated “Would you… would you mind if I stuck by you while you recovered? I… I want to make sure you’re alright.”

Boba didn’t answer right away. A part of him wanted to snap at the vigilante to leave him alone and never come back, but truthfully, he didn’t have it in him. He _would_ need help until he healed, and at least Ado was someone he could trust not to kill him in his sleep. “Sure, whatever…” he said with feigned nonchalance.

He tried to ignore how his heart fluttered a little in his chest at Ado’s smile.

…

“The Emperor and Vader are dead.”

Boba looked up from the datapad he was reading on his cot as Dona came into the room. “What?”

Dona sighed, she looked more tired than Boba had seen her in a long time. “The Empire’s falling apart right now. Apparently both Vader and the Emperor were killed by the Rebellion over some moon in the Outer Rim.”

Boba’s eyes widened. While he had mixed feelings about the Empire (in his opinion, one of the few good things it ever did was wiping out the Jedi) he understood that they maintained order throughout the galaxy, and were far more efficient than the Republic had ever been. With the Emperor’s death, it was only a matter of time before it collapsed under its own weight and the galaxy was plunged into chaos once more.

And worst of all, now _both_ of his biggest employers are dead.

“Huh,” Boba looked back down at his datapad and resumed reading. Nothing he could do about it. No point in panicking.

“That’s it? ‘ _Huh_ ’?” Dona released an exasperated sigh. “Kriff, Fett. You could at least _react_. This will upturn the entire galaxy for _decades_!”

“Yep.” Boba didn’t even bother lifting his eyes from the datapad this time. “How’re things looking with getting my ship?”

He heard Dona sit down in a nearby chair. “Fine. It’s still in the hanger of Jabba’s Palace. Its security systems have kept it from being stolen.” After a moment, Dona asked “Do you think you’ll be ready to leave soon?”

Boba snorted, he’d only been stuck in this place a day and already he was sick of it. For the first time in months, Boba found himself missing his apartment on Nar Shaddaa. “I’d leave right now if that doctor would let me.” He finally decided to glance back up “Where’s Ado? I thought he was with you.”

Dona shrugged “I don’t really know to be honest, I told him about the Emperor and he said he needed to check on something.”

Boba didn’t say anything, simply going back to reading the datapad. Things were still awkward between Ado and Boba. After their initial conversation the vigilante had been keeping his distance from the bounty hunter. Boba suspected Ado was still trying to figure out where things stood between them. To be honest, Boba was still trying to work it out himself. While he would never say it out loud, he was touched that Ado and Dona had chosen to come and find him. However, that didn’t change that Ado was a liability. Now that he’d had more time to think about it, Boba was starting to regret accepting Ado’s offer yesterday. It would only make their inevitable parting that much more difficult. He’d resolved to tell Ado he’d changed his mind, but whenever he saw the vigilante and looked into those familiar violet eyes, he found he couldn’t get the words out of his throat.

He was so lost in thought he almost missed the look Dona was giving him. _Almost_. “What?” He asked, shooting a glare at the twi’lek.

Dona shook her head “You two are unbelievable, you know that?”

Boba rolled his eyes and was about to return to reading his datapad when suddenly Dona snatched it from his hand and pulled it out of his reach. “Hey!” he tried to get up to grab the datapad back, but sudden movement made him lightheaded and he was forced to remain sitting there, glaring petulantly at Dona. “Give that back!”

The twi’lek shook her head, holding the datapad up to examine it. “What are you reading that has you so enthralled?” She looked at the datapad and her brows shot up “This is news from the Crush for the last six months.” She shot Boba a knowing look “Now _why_ would you be interested in _that_ , hmm? Could it have something to do with a certain vigilante?”

Boba felt heat rush to his face and he looked away, crossing his arms over his chest. “Shut up. I’m the deadliest fucking bounty hunter in the galaxy. I can read whatever the fuck I want.” He just curious what Ado had been up to, that was all. Well… that and he had a question he wanted answered.

Dona tried (and _failed_ ) to suppress her giggling. “You know you could have just asked Ado right? There’s no need to go around behind his back.”

Boba scowled. “I didn’t want to.” He hesitated for a moment before adding “I couldn’t find what I wanted to know anyways.”

“Which was?” Dona eyed him curiously “Maybe I could help.”

Boba didn’t say anything for a minute. This was a _really_ bad idea, he just knew it, but the question had been bothering him all day. “After I… kicked Ado out of the apartment, where did he go?” It honestly hadn’t occurred to Boba until he’d seen Ado again, but the vigilante probably didn’t have anywhere else to stay once Boba had told him to get lost. The thought that he’d kicked Ado onto the street with nowhere to go had been gnawing at his gut. He… he honestly hadn’t wanted to make the vigilante _homeless_.

Dona blinked, clearly taken off-guard by the question. “Um… he stayed with Nox for a while.”

Boba felt the guilt instantly get washed away by something else, something primal and fiery that boiled in his stomach, threatening to consume him. “ _Nox_?” he growled out.

Dona cocked an eyebrow at Boba’s tone “Yeah, his kaleesh friend. He helped you rescue Ado from Forkub remember?”

“ _I know who he is_.” Boba snarled. The feeling in his stomach was only intensifying.

Dona studied him for a moment before her eyes lit up. “Wait…” She guffawed “You’re _jealous_!”

 _That_ managed to douse the flames in Boba gut quite quickly, and he felt both shame and humiliation foaming up in its place. He wanted to vehemently deny it, but the words refused to leave his tongue. Boba groaned and fell back against the cot, covering his head with a pillow in a vain attempt to block out Dona’s laughter.

He was starting to miss the sarlacc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just four more to go...
> 
> As always, Feedback is appreciated.


	19. A Bared Soul

Boba couldn’t help the sigh of relief as he limped into his Nar Shaddaa apartment, Ado and Dona by his side. He’d been avoiding the place ever since he’d kicked Ado out all of those months ago, but now that he was back he realized just how much he’d missed it.

 _You mean how much you’ve missed_ Ado _, don’t you?_ The imaginary Dona in his head teased. Boba ignored her.

“It’s good to be back.” The real Dona said, looking around the apartment appraisingly as Ado helped Boba into a nearby chair. “It looks like Dees managed to finish up before we got here too.”

Boba cocked an eyebrow but before he could ask her what she meant, a tall droid step into view from the kitchen, holding a dusting feather in one hand. “Ah, Lady Dona! It’s wonderful to see you again!”

Boba’s eyes went wide as he recognized the sex-droid he’d found Dona and Ado repairing so long ago. “What the _FUCK_ is that thing doing here?!” Boba snapped, jabbing a finger at Dees. “I thought I said I wanted it _gone_!”

Pursing her lips, Dona put her hands on her hips and stepped between Boba and the droid “Dees is my assistant now. I told him to clean up the apartment for us before we got back.”

“I’ve just finished dusting off everything.” Dees supplied helpfully.

Boba scowled but he glanced over at Ado to see the vigilante giving him a stern frown and decided to let the matter be for the moment. Dona dismissed Dees and, at his request, Ado grabbed Boba a glass of water. The bounty hunter drank it all down in a single gulp before saying “So… um…” He cleared his throat, staring down at the empty glass in his hands. He’d been meaning to say this for quite a while, but he could never quite get the words out. “Thanks… for coming to get me… I guess.”

Ado’s hand reached out to cover Boba’s, and the bounty hunter forced himself to look up into those violet eyes. With a small smile, Ado said “Someone has to watch your ass. Might as well be us.”

Boba couldn’t help smirking back “Well, I guess you _are_ quite familiar with my ass, aren’t you?”

Off to the side, Dona pretended to retch “Ugh, save it for when I’m not here you two.”

Boba made a rude gesture at the twi’lek, who merely rolled her eyes while Ado chuckled. For a moment, it felt like the past year had never happened. Then Boba’s burns started hurting again, and the bounty hunter lowered his arm with a barely concealed wince. Ado shot the bounty hunter a worried look, but before he could say anything, Boba stood up, handing the glass back to Ado as he said “I think I’m going to crash for a bit.” He forced himself to smirk “Your flying was far too stressful, Dona.”

The blue twi’lek waved him off “Yeah, yeah, that’s only because you’re a _terrible_ backseat driver.”

Boba turned down Ado’s offer of assistance and slowly climbed the stairs up to his room alone. When he got to his bed, he gingerly lay down on the mattress and stared up at the ceiling. He _was_ tired, it was true, but every time he closed his eyes all he could hear were the screams, writhing their way deep into his mind. The nightmares had only started two days ago. Boba was starting to remember more and more about what it was like in the sarlacc, and honestly? He must have subconsciously suppressed it in the immediate aftermath. It was something Boba was familiar with, he’d done something similar when he escaped Geonosis after his father’s death. Boba considered it a blessing that he could push away the trauma until he was out of danger, but it made the moment it finally _did_ hit him all the more painful. He couldn’t help but wonder if Jabba had known _just_ what he had been subjecting the people he’d “executed” at Carkoon to…

Boba forced himself to focus on the faint conversation he could hear from downstairs. He couldn’t quite make out the words, but Ado and Dona’s voices, no matter how faint, soothed his racing heartbeat. They talked for only a few minutes, then Boba heard Dona leaving with Dees (he thought he heard Dona tell Ado not to let the recovering bounty hunter do anything _strenuous_ before she went) and there was silence once more.

For a minute, Boba heard Ado moving around downstairs, then to his surprise, he heard the sound of Ado’s footsteps marching up the steps to Boba’s room. Forcing himself to sit up, Boba shot the vigilante a confused look as he entered the room. “What?” he asked, a little harsher than he’d intended.

Ado hesitated for a moment, clearly noting Boba’s tone, but then held up his hand, revealing the bag the remains of Boba’s armor was stored in. “You need your armor repaired right? I figured… well I figured I could take a shot at it.” After a moment he hesitantly added “If… if you wouldn’t mind?”

Boba blinked, caught off-guard by the offer. He knew Ado repaired his armor himself, but he hadn’t been expecting him to offer to fix Boba’s armor too. A part of him wanted to tell the vigilante to stay the hell away from his precious armor, but Boba realized with some surprise that he actually trusted Ado to take care of his gear. So with a shrug, Boba said “I don’t see why not.”

Ado clearly hadn’t been expecting that answer. “Um… g-great,” he stammered out. “Y-you wouldn’t mind if I worked on it up here would you?”

Boba gave another shrug and lay back down as Ado sat at Boba’s desk, pulled out the Mando’s armor, and got to work. For a minute there was simply silence between them, Ado quietly stitching the fabric of Boba’s armor back together, and the bounty hunter just staring at the ceiling, taking occasional glances at the vigilante’s back. Then, Ado suddenly asked “Hey Boba, there’s something inscribed on the inside of the right side of your chest-plate I can’t understand.”

Boba blinked, momentarily confused. “Really? What does it say?”

Ado looked over his shoulder at the bounty hunter and shrugged. “Um… I think it says ‘Aib-tour jaytn tour ash-add keer-amour’.”

Boba couldn’t help the smile on his lips, even if he wanted to. He’d forgotten he’d put that there. “ _Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur_.” He flashed Ado a smirk “Your pronunciation is terrible.”

Ado cocked an eyebrow and the corner of his mouth twitched in a small smile “Alright, wise guy, what does it mean?”

Boba looked up at the ceiling, smiling wistfully as he said “It’s a Mandalorian saying my dad liked: ‘Today is a good day for someone else to die’.”

Ado chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds like something you’d like.”

Boba shrugged. “Hey, it’s true.”

“Fair enough. And what about this one?” Ado said after a moment “There’s another inscription on the left side of the chest-piece.”

Boba’s smile instantly vanished. He remembered that one all too well. He’d carved it right over his heart, and it was burned into his very soul. Without prompting, Boba recited “‘ _Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum, Jango Fett_ ’.” Taking a deep breath, he translated “‘I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal, Jango Fett’.”

The silence that fell over the room was deafening. It took several minutes for Ado to speak again. “Your father.” It wasn’t a question.

Boba nodded mutely, his eyes boring holes into the ceiling.

“Sorry.” Ado said, prompting Boba to look at the vigilante and see that once more his back was turned, his shoulders slumped. “I didn’t mean to pry…”

“It’s…” Boba took a deep breath “It’s alright.” To his surprise, he _meant_ those words. There was a time when Boba would have cringed at someone seeing such a vulnerable part of him, but now… with Ado… “Is there anything else you want to know?”

Ado perked up, turning around to look at Boba in surprise. “Um… yeah actually.” He grabbed Boba’s helmet and pointed towards the small dent in it. “How’d this get there?”

Boba smiled. “Well, now that’s quite a tale…”

As he worked, Ado continued to ask questions about the armor: how Bod had got that dent in his helmet (in a fight with Cad Bane), where the small scratch on the underside of his left pauldron came from (a kath hound once ripped it off), what metal it was made from (Mandalorian Iron, or _beskar_ in Mando’a), what the insignia painted on the armor was (the Mythosaur Skull), and more. This soon led to them swapping stories about their past adventures, as well as what they both had been doing these past few months.

At one point, it occurred to Boba that this was the longest conversation he and Ado had ever had. They’d never really talked so openly before, either Boba or Ado had always been too guarded for that. He didn’t particularly want to know what that meant, but Boba would be lying if he said the strange warmth blooming in his chest was unpleasant.

Time flew by and eventually Ado decided to call it a night. He hadn’t gotten much work done as far as Boba could tell, but his armor _did_ look better. As Ado bid him goodnight, Boba had a sudden realization that he was about to be all alone again. The last few hours he’d completely forgotten about the sarlacc, and he wasn’t exactly eager to be left at the mercy of those memories again.

He would most likely berate himself for it later, but as Ado started down the steps, Boba allowed himself a moment of weakness and tentatively called out to the vigilante. “Ado?”

Stopping and turning around, Ado shot Boba a confused look “Yeah?”

Boba bit his lip, he was really doing this. He felt like a stupid kid who was afraid of the dark. Well, there was no turning back now… “Do you mind… you could… could you stay?”

Ado blinked, and for a moment, Boba thought he was going to refuse. Instead, what he said was “The doctor said nothing strenuous Boba.”

Boba couldn’t help rolling his eyes. “I _know_ that you daft idiot. I wasn’t asking you for _sex_ I just… I wanted you to sleep up here tonight.”

Ado blinked a few more times, emotions flashing through his eyes so quickly Boba didn’t have time to identify them. Then, Ado’s expression softened and he gave Boba a warm smile. “Yeah, of course I can.”

Once Ado was ready for bed, he climbed under the covers with Boba, leaving a respectable distance between them. As the lights turned off, things were quiet, deafeningly so, and even with Ado’s presence nearby, he felt the tendrils wiggling back into his mind.

“It talked to me.” He blurted out into the darkness.

After a moment, Boba heard Ado turn to face him, and he could almost picture the puzzled look on the vigilante’s face. “What?”

“The sarlacc.” Boba said, rolling onto his side to face Ado. “It could speak… into my mind.”

After a moment, Ado said “That’s why you wanted me to stay the night isn’t it?”

Boba chewed his lip for a moment. Even in the darkness, he thought he could make out the faint glimmer of Ado’s violet eyes gazing back at him. “Yeah…” he admitted.

Boba startled as he felt Ado’s arms reach forward and pull him against the vigilante, wrapping tightly around the bounty hunter. After a long moment, Boba found himself sinking into the embrace, resting his head on Ado’s chest and wrapping his arms around him. It was… strange. They hadn’t held each other like this in so long but… Boba realized how much he’d missed Ado’s arms around him.

 _I’ll process_ that _thought later_. Boba let himself get lost in Ado’s warmth, neither of them saying anything for several minutes. Finally, Boba spoke up. “Ado…”

“Yeah?”

“If I wake up in a headlock I’m kicking you out again.”

After a moment, Ado’s arms wrapped tighter around the bounty hunter. “No you won’t.” Boba could hear the smile in Ado’s voice.

He was right of course, Boba wouldn’t. Still, as he snuggled into Ado’s chest and let his eyes drift shut, he grumbled half-heartedly “I hate you so much…”

Ado chuckled and, with a yawn, sleepily mumbled into the bounty hunter’s hair “I love you too, Boba.”

Boba tensed, eyes snapping open instantly.

_WHAT?!_

He waited for Ado to play it off as just a joke, or a teasing remark, but the vigilante was already fast asleep. Boba pushed the tumultuous storm in his thoughts to the back of his mind and tried to force himself to just forget what Ado had said. He wasn’t being serious, right? No, of course he wasn’t. That would be absurd. He probably didn’t even realize what he’d said. But still… what if he had _meant_ it?

And why did Boba care so much if he did?

 _Fuck_ …


	20. A Friend's Advice

The next morning, Ado didn’t mention what he’d mumbled the previous night at all, and Boba decided that there was nothing to it. The vigilante hadn’t been serious. But… why did he feel so… _disappointed_? Ado didn’t mean it when he’d said he loved Boba. That was a _good_ thing.

_Wasn’t it?_

Boba forced the matter from his mind and devoted himself to recovering his strength. He passed the time testing the limits of how far he’d healed from his wounds. The burns would scar but that wasn’t really a problem for him, Boba had plenty of scars already. The bandages still needed to be changed and the bacta salve reapplied every few hours, but there weren’t any infections and he wouldn’t need any skin transplants. It still hurt every time he moved his arms and legs, but Boba was getting used to the pain.

Ado had briefly left to grab his stuff from where he’d been sleeping and inform his kaleesh friend Nox (who Boba _wasn’t_ jealous of! He _WASN’T_!) that he wouldn’t be around for a few days. A small part of Boba was actually grateful for the brief solitude. Every time he looked at the vigilante he felt a strange bubbling mess of emotions boiling in his gut he _really_ didn’t want to identify.

Ado continued to work on Boba’s armor, and continued to ask questions about it and Mandalorians in general. Boba told him what he could, though he was sheepish to admit he wasn’t as well-versed in Mando culture as he should have been. It had been many years since he’d visited Mandalore, and even more since he’d actually made contact with the Fett Clan. Jango had been something of a pariah in his later years, though he’d never been actually cast out, and that status had passed on to Boba with his death. Ado had asked if Boba ever regretted not staying in more contact with the Fett Clan, but Boba hadn’t answered and Ado let the matter pass.

“What about you?” Boba asked.

Looking up from his work, Ado shot him a confused look. “‘What about me’ what?”

“Do you regret not keeping in contact with Valdera?”

Ado hesitated for a moment, and looked down “I told you, Valderans are isolationists. Staying in touch with someone there would take more resources than I have. Besides,” he looked back up and shrugged “there’s only one person I would want to make contact with anyways…”

Silence fell between them once more and for a long time, the only sound came from Ado’s work stitching Boba’s armor back together. Boba wanted to ask more, but Ado was closing himself off to him again. He still didn’t know _why_ Ado had left Valdera, but it must have been bad for him to be so reluctant to even _talk_ about it. Boba suddenly realized that there was a faint ache in his chest at Ado’s reticent attitude. He _wanted_ Ado to open up to him, but he had no idea _how_ to approach it. It wasn’t like Boba was particularly forthcoming about his _own_ feelings.

Then, to his surprise, Ado said “I met another Valderan recently.”

Boba blinked and looked at Ado, the vigilante was staring down at the bounty hunter’s armor, his hands frozen mid-sew. “Is that right?” Boba said.

 Ado nodded, “She was returning to Valdera. The Empire’s conquered it and she was going back to help with the resistance.”

Boba tried not to wince. He hadn’t known about Valdera falling to the Empire. From what he knew about about Imperial occupation methods, it likely wasn’t a pleasant experience for the Valderans.

Ado continued “I… I asked her to get a message to my dad… if she could find him, just… just letting him know I’m alright.”

Boba didn’t say anything as silence fell once again. What _could_ he say? If he tried to reassure Ado that everything was fine, if would be an empty platitude at best. Boba wasn’t good at this kind of thing. Thankfully, he didn’t have to try, because Ado quickly went back to asking Boba more questions about his armor. Boba could see now that Ado was trying keep his mind off the plight of his homeworld, and whatever fate might have befallen his father. He didn’t ask any more questions about Ado’s past after that. Being considerate wasn’t something Boba was used to, but he was willing to try for Ado’s sake.

The days slowly passed by. Dona frequently visited to check up on him, sometimes even bringing that _accursed_ droid with her. (She was doing it to annoy him. He _knew it_.) Ado eventually finished his work on Boba’s armor, and the bounty hunter had to admit it was some quality work. He’d still probably try and get it repaired by a professional, but at least it wasn’t completely falling apart anymore. As the days turned into weeks and Boba got more and more of his strength back, Ado started going back out on patrols in the Crush. From what he understood, there wasn’t a lot for the vigilante to actually do there anymore, he was mostly just picking up the slack the new militia left behind, and there was less and less of that every day. For his part, Boba began to grow more antsy. He was eager to get back out there and start working again, but for some reason, part of him hesitated. While his nightmares about the sarlacc had mostly faded away, his thoughts were constantly preoccupied.

His musing must have been obvious, because one day while she was visiting Dona asked “Did you and Ado have a fight?”

Boba blinked and looked up from the article he’d been reading to shoot the blue twi’lek a confused look. “What? What gave you that idea?”

Dona rolled her eyes. “You’ve been brooding more than usual lately.”

Boba narrowed his eyes “I don’t _brood_.”

“The _hell_ you don’t!” Dona shot back, dropping her own datapad on the table.

Boba shot a glare at Dona but returned his gaze to his datapad. “Nothing happened, Dona.”

“So you’re saying everything between you and Ado is just fine?” Dona challenged.

Boba hesitated. Things between him and Ado were… _odd_. They were somehow closer, and yet more distant than ever. They hadn’t even had sex once since Boba got better. It was… he didn’t know what it was…

Sighing, Boba put his datapad on the table too and stared at his cup of caf. “I… I’m not sure what’s going on with us.”

“Did you say something to him?” Dona asked, leaning forward.

Boba hesitated for a moment. He _really_ didn’t want to tell her, no doubt Dona was going to laugh at him about it, but he _also_ needed advice, and Boba didn’t exactly have many people he could turn to for that.

Taking a deep breath, Boba said “The first night back, I asked Ado to stay with me.” He noticed Dona’s sudden glare and quickly added “We didn’t do anything _strenuous_ , don’t worry. He just slept in my bed.” He paused, not quite sure how to word this next part. “When he… when Ado was falling asleep, he muttered something. I don’t think he even knows he said it but… I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.”

“What was it?” Dona asked, brows furrowed.

Boba glanced away. “He… said he loved me.” Letting out a sigh, Boba quickly added “It’s… it’s stupid, I think he was joking anyways.”

He braced himself for the laughter, but it never came. Instead, Dona bluntly stated “You are the densest idiot in the galaxy.”

Boba blinked and shot a glare at Dona. “You have five seconds to explain before I get violent.”

The twi’lek rolled her eyes “Are you a grown man or a teenager, Fett? Just _ask_ him if he was being serious or not, and if he was, let him down gently. There’s no need to _agonize_ over this! Not unless…” Suddenly, her eyes went wide and Dona stared at Boba in disbelief “Wait… you don’t mean…” Boba felt heat flood his cheeks and he looked away, but that didn’t deter the twi’lek. Faster than he’d ever seen her move, Dona scrambled out of her chair and rushed around the table to Boba’s side, grabbing him by the shoulders as she asked. “Boba… Boba be honest with me. Do _you_ love _Ado_?”

He wanted nothing more than to firmly say “no” but… “I… I don’t know…” he admitted “I don’t know what I feel…” It was harder than he’d expected to get those words out. He’d been trying to figure out just _what_ his relationship with the vigilante was these past few weeks nonstop. He knew that he _cared_ for him, far more than he would have liked, heck it was the reason Boba had ended things in the first place. But Ado had still come for him when he needed help, despite everything. What was he supposed to do?

After a moment, Dona said “Let me guess, you haven’t tried to talk to Ado about this either.”

Boba winced “What am I supposed to say? It’s not like anything could ever come of it.”

Dona’s brows furrowed “Why?”

Boba shrugged “I can’t afford to have a relationship, not in my line of work. It would be nothing but a weakness others would try to exploit. It’s why I ended things all those months ago.”

Dona cocked an eyebrow and released Boba’s shoulders, dragging her chair around the table and sitting back down, looking at the bounty hunter like she was trying to decode a puzzle. “Putting aside how much of a _bullshit_ excuse that is, have you _told_ Ado about this?”

Boba blinked “I told him he was a liability.”

Dona crossed her arms over her chest “Did you tell him _why_?” Boba’s hesitation was all the answer Dona needed “ _Kriff_ , Fett…”

Boba glanced away. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it _fucking does_!” Dona snapped, catching Boba off-guard. With a sigh, Dona closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “Boba… do you know what was said after you burnt Forkub to a crisp?” Boba shook his head “ _Nobody_ wanted to get anywhere _near_ Ado. It’s why he’s had such an easy time cleaning up the Crush, because everyone was _terrified_ that if they hurt him, Boba Fett would come and slaughter them all.” Opening her eyes, she continued “And when you were stuck in that desert, Ado didn’t hesitate a _second_ to come and rescue you. Hell, Ado was moments away from jumping into that damn beast after you to pull you out before we realized you’d escaped.” She leaned forward and stared into Boba’s eyes. “And do you _know_ how many times you’ve saved my ass? A _lot_. Having people you care about, and who care about you, isn’t a _liability_ , Boba. It’s a _strength_.”

For a minute, Boba considered Dona’s words. A part of him knew what she said made sense and yet… “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do…”

To Boba’s surprise, Dona reached over and took his hand “Try _talking_ with him. Ado _does_ care about you, and we both know you care just as much about him, despite your best efforts. The least you two can do is _talk_ to each other about it.” She sighed “Just… give it a shot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, this one fought me, and I'm STILL not happy with it.


	21. An Opening Door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies in advance, I cut out the sex scene that was supposed to be in this chapter because I was having trouble getting it down. Sorry, but at least you aren't missing much. It was going to be pretty vanilla. :/

When Ado returned to the apartment that evening, Boba was anxiously pacing back and forth in the lounge. The vigilante stopped and cocked his head to the side upon seeing the bounty hunter. “Um… Boba?” he said uneasily “Is… is everything alright?”

Boba stopped pacing and glanced at Ado. He still hadn’t decided what to do, even after Dona’s talk. How was he even supposed to _start_ talking about their relationship anyways? Maybe if he started off with small talk?

“I… I wanted to talk about… about why I ended things between us.”

 _That’s_ not _small talk you moron!_

Ado’s expression was unreadable behind his helmet, and his body language was too reserved for Boba to gleam what he was thinking when he said “…Alright.”

Taking a deep breath, Boba sat down on the couch, watching as Ado moved to remove his helmet and facemask, setting them carefully down on the coffee table and sitting in nearby chair, violet eyes looking at Boba hesitantly. The bounty hunter stared back for a moment, trying to discern what Ado was thinking, but unable to get any clues. With a sigh, Boba stared down at his hands. Jumping right into the deep end was _not_ how he’d wanted to handle this, but there wasn’t any changing that now.

Boba’s words were slow at first while he built up his courage. “I’m… I’m not very good at this whole… relationships thing. I thought… I was scared that my… _feelings_ for you were going to end up getting the both of us hurt, or worse. To be a bounty hunter of my reputation, you can’t afford to show any signs of weakness…” He looked up to meet Ado’s gaze “…of humanity.”

For a moment, Ado didn’t say anything, his face an inscrutable mask. Then, he quietly said “That… that doesn’t make any sense. Why would you ever think that?”

Boba hesitated for a moment before continuing “There was a… there was a woman who often worked with my father: a changeling. She’d visit me often while I was growing up, telling me all sorts of stories and generally getting on my father’s nerves.” A small, wistful smile touched Boba’s lips “She was… she was like family to me.” The smile vanished “Then… one day, she and dad went on a mission, but only he came back.”

When Boba didn’t say anything next, Ado cautiously asked “What happened?”

Boba bit his lip, the memories starting to flood back. His father’s grim expression as he wiped away his son’s tears, how long Boba had cried in his arms. “She’d been caught, and was about to give my father up when he shot her.” Boba looked away “I was… hurt. I thought she was his friend, but my father told me that a bounty hunter doesn’t _have_ friends.” He met Ado’s eyes once more “That he has to be willing to sacrifice anyone if they get in the way of the mission, no matter who they are, or what they meant to him.”

Ado didn’t say anything for a moment. When he finally spoke, Ado looked down at his hands as he asked “Why are you telling me this?”

Boba looked away again. “I don’t know… I guess… I just wanted you to understand why I did what I did.” He bit his lip “I’m… sorry. I know I must have hurt you.” Those words felt strange in his mouth, apologizing wasn’t something Boba was particularly familiar with.

When Boba looked back to Ado, he saw that the vigilante’s mask was starting to crack; there was genuine warmth in his eyes. After a moment, Ado stood up and said “Um… would you mind helping me out of my armor?”

Boba cocked an eyebrow at the sudden request but stood up regardless. “Um… sure.”

Ado stood there, silent as Boba carefully undid the latches holding his armor together and started to remove it piece by piece. He had just gotten the chest piece off when Ado suddenly said. “I’m… I’m attracted to men.”

Boba blinked, momentarily caught off-guard, but quickly regained his composure and snorted. “I noticed.”

Ado sighed, refusing to look at Boba “No… I mean…” he took a deep breath “I’m attracted to _only_ men.”

“And?” Boba said with a cocked eyebrow “So what?” Ado looked up, and as his eyes met Boba’s, the bounty hunter had a sudden realization that he’d just missed something very important. Boba stopped his work and simply stared at Ado for a moment, brows furrowed in confusion. “What is it?”

Taking a shuddering breath, Ado closed his eyes as he said “In… in Valderan culture… relationships between women are fine. Hell, they’re _expected_ to a certain degree. When you have so few men around you can’t exactly fault women for finding comfort in each other. But… relationships between men…” Ado opened his eyes and as he looked away, even Boba could see the shame on his face as he whispered “They have a word for people like me, _cara-dava_ : ‘betrayer of his duty’.”

Suddenly it all fell into place. Boba had heard that some cultures considered homosexuality taboo, but he had never realized that the Valderan were one of them. “That’s why you left isn’t it?”

Ado blinked and looked back up at Boba “Well… among other things.” With a sigh, he sat down on the couch, and Boba quickly moved to sit beside him, his task all but forgotten as Ado said “You know how men are pretty rare for Valderans? Because of that, we’re considered…” he bit his lip “ _valuable_.” Ado took a deep breath. “It’s… it’s not as bad as it used to be… To hear some of the elders talk it sounded like men used to be second-class citizens, denied a lot of the opportunities the more expendable women were allowed. They were expected to just stay at home and impregnate as many of their wives as they could, as frequently as they could. Thankfully, by the time I was born, men had more rights. My father had been part of the first generation of men to serve in the military, and I wanted to follow his footsteps. I trained to become one of the Phantom Vanguard like he was, and even graduated near the top of my class, but when it came time for us to get our assignments…” He shook his head. “The Phantom Vanguard are meant to be on the front lines. We were taught to fight and die so that others wouldn’t have to risk their lives. We were supposed to be protectors.”

Boba pursed his lips, he could tell where this was going. “Let me guess, you realized that the Vanguard didn’t _quite_ live up to the ideal?”

To his surprise, Ado simply shrugged “I don’t know, I wasn’t given a chance to find out.” his expression hardened “Because I was a _man_ , they refused to let me actually protect people like I was supposed to. I was assigned to a safe position in one of the cities. I wasn’t allowed to participate in actual combat.”

Boba’s eyebrows shot up. That… honestly was not what he’d been expecting. “Well, Valderans are isolationists right? How many wars could they possibly get into anyways?”

Ado chuckled, a dark, bitter thing that Boba had never expected to hear from the vigilante. “Valdera isn’t exactly _unified_. There was always at least one insurrection or guerilla war going on.” He shook his head. “Over half of my graduating class were killed in the war that was happening at the time. And I… I was forbidden from fighting alongside them.”

Boba was starting to put the pieces together “That’s where this whole crusade of yours comes from isn’t it? You want to protect people because you weren’t allowed to back on Valdera.”

Ado blinked, giving Boba a surprised look “That… that actually never occurred to me.”

Boba couldn’t hide his smirk “I guess I know you better than you do huh?”

Ado’s next chuckle was far lighter than the last one “Maybe.” His eyes twinkled “Maybe not. I still have _some_ secrets.”

Boba playfully nudged Ado’s shoulder with his own, and for a long moment, neither of them said anything. When Boba finally spoke, his voice was uncertain as he asked “How bad was it?”

Ado’s expression fell and he looked back down at his hands. “You mean the sexism? Not… not too bad otherwise, it was pretty manageable. As I said, things had gotten better long before I was born. However, there was always this… _expectation_ hovering over me like a cloud that I would take at least one wife and start making babies. For…” he took a deep breath and let it out with a heavy sigh. “For obvious reasons, I was never too keen on that idea.” Ado’s expression hardened “There was a fellow member of the Vanguard, a man named Iren. We… started secretly having sex when we were teenagers in the academy, and it continued after we got posted together to the same base. After a few years however, Iren ended it. He said…” Ado scowled “He said I had to ‘grow up’ and accept my ‘responsibilities’. He got his first wife the next month and was discharged from the military so he could start doing his ‘duty’.” Ado looked like he was about to puke. “I don’t know what’s worse, that he thought my… my feelings where just me being _childish_ , or that I finally realized I was never really a member of the Vanguard in the first place. They were just humoring me, letting me play _pretend_ until it was time for me to be an ‘adult’.”

Boba couldn’t really imagine what that was like, learning that you had never been respected at all, that all your hard work wasn’t even valued. Even as a child, his father had always treated Boba’s dreams with respect (hell, he’d even supported him when Boba was seven and briefly decided he wanted to be a _botanist_ , of all things) and after his father’s death, Boba had held at least some level of respect among the other bounty hunters, if for no other reason than he was Jango Fett’s son. To actually realize that what he’d dedicated _years_ to was considered nothing more than a… a childish fancy, that was unthinkable.

“You couldn’t have told them you just weren’t interested in women?” Boba asked, and from the look on Ado’s face, he instantly realized that was the _wrong_ thing to say.

“And _then what_?” Ado snarled “You don’t get it Boba. Ever since I was little, I had been told stories about how _sinful_ and _wicked_ _cara-dava_ are. When I was starting to realize I was _one of them_ , I was _devastated_. The _only_ reason I didn’t kill myself was because I was taught that the All-Mother hates men who commit suicide even _more_ than she hates _cara-dava_! It took me _years_ to accept that I couldn’t change what I was and, if I was going to be punished by the All-Mother for it anyways, I might as well embrace it.”

Boba stared at Ado in shock. He’d _never_ heard such anger, such _grief_ from the vigilante in all the time he’d known him. He couldn’t help but wonder if Ado really _had_ accepted it like he claimed. He didn’t know who this ‘All-Mother’ was, but Boba could reason out that it was some sort of deity of the Valderan people, and from the sounds of it, she meant a fair amount to Ado too. How heartbroken had he been when he learned he was damned for something he couldn’t even help? In that moment, Boba felt such a blinding anger towards the Valderan people who’d condemned this man for something that was beyond his control that he actually saw red. Ado started talking again, however, and Boba was brought out of his rage and wrapped an arm over Ado’s shoulder.

“I’ve heard stories about what happened to the men who were found to be _cara-dava_.” Ado was saying, voice barely more than a whisper “They would send them to these… _correctional_ facilities run by the seers and the people who came back out were… different. And that was if they came out _at all_.” He bowed his head, voice cracking as he said “They would never accept me… the only value I ever had was how many children I could sire… So I…” His voice croaked.

“So you ran.” Boba finished for him.

Ado nodded “I… I told my dad about everything. He was the only person I knew would accept me for who I am, sins and all. He managed to help me sneak aboard one of the few transports that traveled off-world. I traveled around for a while and eventually found myself on Nar Shaddaa. I decided to help out the people here and… well you know the rest…”

For several minutes, no one said anything. Boba was still trying to process everything that Ado had told him. He’d had his own theories about why Ado had left Valdera, sure, but he hadn’t expected something like… _that_. Wordlessly, Boba decided to resume removing the pieces of Ado’s armor. A long time passed, and as he was finishing up by removing Ado’s boots, Boba remembered something.

“What does this actually mean?” He suddenly asked.

Ado, who had been lost in a sort of gloomy stupor since he’d finished talking, blinked and shot Boba a confused look. “What does what mean?”

Boba gestured to the boot he’d just taken off. “This. Me helping you out of your armor. You said this was significant in Valderan culture.”

“Oh,” Ado gave Boba a small smile “I told you, it was reserved for people you _trust_. Close friends or siblings or sisters-in-arms or…” He trailed off and looked away.

“Or what?”

Boba noticed that color was tinting Ado’s cheeks as he said “Well, _lovers_.”

 _Oh_. Boba’s throat went dry as he asked “And… which one am I?”

Ado didn’t answer for a moment, then he turned to look at Boba as he whispered “I… I don’t know.”

Boba stared into Ado’s eyes, and suddenly realized he’d never seen the vigilante quite so openly. It was like looking through a newly opened doorway that had always been shut before. And Boba suddenly realized that _he_ was just as exposed as Ado was. It was… it was actually kind of frightening… he wasn’t used to being so vulnerable with someone. His heart was fluttering in his chest, though with fear or jubilation he couldn’t tell. He almost wanted to pull back, to shut himself off from Ado once more, but while Boba Fett was a great many things, he was no coward.

Their lips had met before either of them realized it.

…

Boba sighed as he rest his head against Ado’s bare chest. The clock on the nightstand told him that it was morning, but Boba wasn’t quite willing to get up just yet. Instead, he closed his eyes once more and simply listened to the vigilante’s heartbeat thump steadily in his ear. The sheets were pooled around their waists, one of the pillows had fallen onto the floor in the night, and Boba honestly felt more comfortable than he’d ever had in his entire life.

After several long minutes, Boba felt Ado begin to stir. Sitting up on his elbows, Boba watched as the vigilante slowly woke up, a strange, but familiar feeling swelling deep in his chest. Boba didn’t think it was love, at least… not yet. But he did care for Ado, more than he’d cared for _anyone_ in a long, long time.

As Ado’s eyes fluttered open, Boba could help but smirk. “Congrats,” he said cheerfully “I didn’t wake up in a headlock again. You get to stay.”

Ado sleepily blinked at Boba for a moment, then groaned and closed his eyes again “You are _never_ going to forget that, are you?”

Boba’s grin widened “Nope.”

Ado opened his eyes again to glare at Boba. “Well, maybe I should find a certain _commercial_ and leak it onto the holonet…”

Boba narrowed his eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Ado smirked sleepily “I just woke up in bed with the deadliest bounty hunter in the galaxy drooling on me. I’m feeling _pretty daring_.”

Boba’s lips twitched in a smirk as he said “Don’t sass me.”

Suddenly, Boba found himself rolled onto his back with Ado pinning him. “Would you rather I do something _else_?” he whispered before planting a kiss on Boba’s lips. The bounty hunter melted into the embrace, hand cupping Ado’s neck as they deepened the kiss. A few moments later, they separated, and Boba gazed up into those familiar violet eyes. Sadly, that moment could only last so long.

“We should probably get up.” Boba reluctantly pointed out. “I think Dona said she was going to come over this morning. We wouldn’t want her to catch us like this.”

Ado smiled and pressed his forehead against Boba’s as he whispered. “Let her.”

Boba couldn’t help but lean up to press a kiss to Ado’s grin.

It wasn’t love yet… but maybe one day it could be.

…

The next few days were almost like a dream. He and Ado spent a lot of time together, talking more about their pasts and sharing their interests. Boba had even taken up teaching Ado some Mando’a. The first word he’d taught him was _cyar'ika_ : darling. (Naturally, Ado’s pronunciation was still terrible.)

Boba finally started to get back to bounty hunting again. He’d gotten his armor fully fixed, and replaced all the gear he’d lost in the sarlacc, and he started taking on some small bounties to get himself back into the swing of things. Ado actually accompanied Boba on several of these hunts, and Boba had decided to return the favor by accompanying Ado on some of his last few patrols in the Crush. Boba was actually surprised to see how different the district was from the last time he’d been there. There was a vitality present that he’d honestly never expected to see in the poorer areas of Nar Shaddaa. He was proud of what Ado had accomplished, and he could tell that the vigilante was even more proud of the people of the Crush. He was even there when Ado said goodbye to Nox, promising to visit when he could. To his surprise, Boba hadn’t felt the usual spike of jealousy he’d always had in the kaleesh’s presence when the new commander of the Crush’s militia had hugged Ado. (Well, not a _lot_ of it anyways.)

With Ado’s work in the Crush done, the vigilante started to turn to thoughts of the next neighborhood he’d clean up. To be honest, Boba was considering asking Ado to leave behind his vigilante work and partner up with the bounty hunter full-time. Still, he was unsure how Ado would react to the offer. There were still aspects about the bounty hunter’s life that he knew Ado didn’t approve of. There would likely have to be some compromises from both of them if they were going to it work, but Boba was surprised to find himself willing to give it a shot.

Unfortunately, he never got the chance to ask.

Boba had just returned from another successful hunt when he found Ado standing in the middle of the lounge, staring blankly down at a datapad in his hands. Frowning at the vigilante’s behavior, Boba took off his helmet and asked “Ado? What is it?”

Ado looked up, and Boba’s heart seized as he saw the fear and grief in the vigilante’s eyes. Holding up the datapad, Ado said in a shaking voice “There… There’s a Rebel and Imperial fleet fighting over Valdera…” he stared down at the datapad and said so quietly Boba almost didn’t hear him “I… I have to go.”

Boba’s eyes went wide and his jaw hit the floor “ _What_?! Have you forgotten you _ran_ from Valdera?! Why the _fuck_ do you want to go back to those assholes?!”

With trembling hands, Ado set the datapad down on a nearby end table and, looking back up to Boba said “Th-They’re saying the city where I grew up was destroyed by an Imperial bombardment…” He gulped “Tens of thousands of people are dead… if… if my dad was still living there then…”

Boba instantly understood. He would want to do the exact same thing if it were _his_ father after all. “Ado…” he said, softly, closing the distance between them.

Ado looked away. “I… I need to find my father. I need to know if he’s alright or…” Ado flinched, clearly unable to say it out loud. As he looked into Boba’s eyes he said softly “Boba… I have to go…”

Boba sighed and put his hands on Ado’s shoulders. “Not alone, you don’t.”

Without warning, Ado pulled Boba into a crushing hug, burying his face into the bounty hunter’s neck. As Boba carefully returned the embrace, he felt something wet soak his collar and realized that Ado was crying…

“ _Thank you_ ,” Ado said “ _thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you_ …”

Boba felt his heart ache in his chest, and patted Ado on the back as he said. “Alright, ease up a little, you’re crushing my armor.”

As Ado pulled back, Boba looked him in the eyes. He was _going_ to help Ado find his father, but more importantly, Boba vowed to himself then and there, if any of the Valderans tried to do _anything_ to Ado, just because of who he was, Boba would fight tooth and nail to protect him.

Giving Ado his most reassuring smile, Boba said “We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.” After a moment he added “But we’ll need to make one quick stop first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... there you have it. Ado's backstory in (pretty much) its entirety. Hard to believe I came up with Valdera just because I wanted Ado to be able to cum multiple times in a row... weird huh?
> 
> Anyways, what did you think about it? Was it what you were expecting?


	22. Epilogue: A New Path

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are: the last chapter. This one ended up being shorter than I had expected.

If Ado had thought Tatooine had been strange, it was nothing compared to where he was now. The sand of this arid world was red, something he’d never seen before. Towering, blazing spires and malevolent rock formations reached into the orange sky. The very air seemed to hum with a sinister energy, and Ado was pretty sure he saw a _very_ large bug crawl out of a crevice and fly off at one point. Yes, Geonosis was certainly a strange one, which made it all the more puzzling that Boba insisted they visit someone here, and Boba had been completely tight-lipped about the whole thing during the walk from the _Slave I_. It was a good thing Geonosis wasn’t too far out of the way from Valdera, it meant Ado was able to push aside his own anxiety about the uncertain fate of his father for the moment and indulge the bounty hunter.

Finally, they arrived at a small pile of stones overlooking a canyon. To Ado’s surprise, Boba removed his helmet, set it on the ground, and knelt down in front of the pile, his hand brushing over the stones with a reverence Ado had never seen from him before. “Hey dad…” Boba whispered so quietly Ado almost didn’t hear it. “Sorry I missed this year’s anniversary. I was… occupied.”

 _This is his father’s grave…_ Ado realized. Boba had never mentioned the name of the world his father had died on. Suddenly, Ado felt immensely uncomfortable. He shouldn’t be here, this was something immensely private for Boba. He should give the bounty hunter some space.

He was about to start walking away when Boba said. “I wanted to introduce you to someone.” Ado’s eyes went wide as Boba stood back up and beckoned for the vigilante to stand next to him. “This is Ado. He’s a bit of a naïve blockhead, but I’d think you’d like him…” he paused and then chuckled “Well, either that or you’d try to kill him.” Boba stared down at the stones, his shoulders slumping “I… I wish you could have met him…”

Ado finally stepped forward and silently held Boba’s hand in his, intertwining their fingers. The bounty hunter didn’t say anything for a long time, but Ado could tell from the way he’d leaned into the vigilante’s shoulder that Boba was grateful. Ado saw that Boba’s expression was hard, and couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. There was still so much about the bounty hunter he had yet to figure out, and a part of Ado wondered if he would ever fully understand him.

Looking down at the stones, Ado remembered the words that Boba had etched into his armor over his heart, and slowly said “ _Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum,_ Jango Fett.”

For a minute, Boba didn’t say anything, and Ado wondered if he’d done something wrong. Then, to his surprise, Boba snorted “You’re pronunciation is still terrible but…” he turned to give Ado a small smile “Thanks.”

Ado looked at the bounty hunter for a moment, then gently squeezed Boba’s hand and smiled back. They stayed in front of the grave for several more minutes, before finally, Boba freed his hand from Ado’s and reached down to pick up his helmet, putting it back on without a word. The bounty hunter turned and silently walked away, and after giving the grave one last look, Ado followed. The trip back to the ship was a silent one. It was not lost on Ado what Boba taking him here meant, and as he felt warmth bloom in his chest, Ado quietly reached out to take Boba’s hand once more. The bounty hunter didn’t say anything, but gave Ado’s hand a small squeeze back.

Dona was waiting for them back by the _Slave I_. The twi’lek was sitting on the boarding ramp, absently typing away at a datapad in her hands. When she saw the two of them returning, Dona cocked an eyebrow. “Back already? And here I was hoping I’d have enough time to get some work done before we set off again.”

“You didn’t have to come with us, Dona.” Boba shot back, releasing Ado’s hand and climbing up the boarding ramp with the vigilante in tow.

“The _hell_ I didn’t!” Dona retorted, getting up to follow them inside the ship “You think I’m going to just sit on the sidelines while two of my friends go gallivanting off to a warzone?! Yeah, fuck that!”

Ado had half expected Boba to tell Dona that they weren’t friends, but interestingly he didn’t comment on it, simply climbing into the cockpit. Ado followed, getting into the navigator’s chair while Dona climbed into the passenger seat. Wordlessly, Boba turned the ship on and lifted it into the air, the cockpit rotating as the ship transitioned to a vertical position. Ado had already given Boba the coordinates to Valdera and Boba quickly set their destination as they rocketed out of Geonosis’ atmosphere. As the arid planet shrank behind them, Ado watched Boba pilot the ship, and noticed there was something almost… nostalgic in the way the bounty hunter handled the _Slave I_. The stars streaked and they were off into the swirling blue tunnel of hyperspace. They had a long trip to Valdera.

Ado looked around the cockpit, noting that Dona had gone back to typing on her datapad. Boba was simply staring at the controls, and Ado felt a sudden urge to reach out and take Boba’s hand once again. The bounty hunter looked at Ado as the vigilante’s hand was placed atop his. His expression was hidden beneath his helmet, but Ado had a feeling Boba was smiling warmly at him. They didn’t know what they would find when they reached Valdera. To be perfectly honest, Ado was terrified, but he knew that no matter what happened, he and Boba would face it.

 _Together_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last... it's done...
> 
> Well, I mean there's the sequel I have to write (leaving you guys on a cliffhanger like that would just be too cruel), but "My Bounty" is finally finished.
> 
> The sequel: "Home" can be found here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15735906/chapters/36586959  
> It will probably be shorter than "My Bounty" and a lot more plot-focused. Consequently, there won't be any sex scenes in it. (Sorry.)
> 
> As for the bonus chapters with the cut sex scenes for this story, I'll get to them when I have the time. But for now, "My Bounty" is officially done.
> 
> What did you think? I'd love to hear your final thoughts.
> 
> Until next time!


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